Family Connection Drop-In: New times!

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You are invited to attend this arts-based group on Zoom for four sessions this winter. This group is intended for parents and caregivers to have a virtual therapeutic space to meet, connect, and reflect.

Each group session will centre on a theme, and attendees will be invited to engage in guided creative reflection—such as journaling, drawing or collage-making—to explore their individual relationship to the theme, with opportunity for conversation and sharing throughout.

Participants will receive information about each session’s intended theme ahead of time. You are welcome to attend any and all of the sessions.

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Canuck Place school is:

Flexible: Each class is standalone; regular attendance is not required. Join a class whenever it suits you!

Supportive: Some children take quick breaks during class, or leave early as needed.

Personal: Smaller classes sizes of 3-5 kids creates meaningful learning connections.

Supplemental: These classes supplement, not replace, regular school classes.

Creative: A range of topics presented using stories, videos, and music.

Please note!

Activities: Some classes include arts, crafts, and simple science experiments, using common household items; participation is not mandatory.

Supplies notification: An email will be sent the week before any classes requiring supplies.

Please email Teacher Kay at [email protected] if you are interested in your child attending some classes.

Music Mondays

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Holiday Harmonies: Winter Holiday Party

Get ready to celebrate the season with Canuck Place! Families are invited to join our virtual Winter Holiday Party – Holiday Harmonies, a joyful online gathering filled with music, laughter, and festive cheer. Together, we’ll sing favorite songs, share the warmth of the holidays, and show off our most festive outfits—whether it’s a cozy sweater, reindeer antlers, or twinkling hats.

This special event is all about connection, creativity, and fun. Children and families can sing along, enjoy seeing friends, and make bright memories together—right from the comfort of home.

Let’s come together to fill the season with music and joy. We can’t wait to see your sparkle and hear your voices!

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Tiny Tunes, Tender Times

We are excited to introduce a special six-week music therapy group designed for babies and young children (ages 0–5) and their parents and caregivers.

Join us Wednesdays at 9 a.m. on Zoom to connect, play, and f ind comfort in the healing power of music. These sessions create a safe and joyful space where families can bond through singing, movement, rhythm, and simple instruments.

Music helps support emotional connection and sensory exploration, all while making beautiful memories together. Whether you’re tapping along to a beat, sharing a lullaby, or simply enjoying the sounds, this group invites families to participate in ways that feel meaningful for them.

Come as you are and enjoy a fun, uplifting time with your child(ren), while building a sense of community alongside other Canuck Place families.

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Valentine's Day Sing and Smile

Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to celebrate the people we care about. At Canuck Place, we’re marking the day with our Valentine’s Sing and Smile, an online sing-along filled with songs about love, friendship, and kindness. Families are invited to join together in music, laughter, and joy—whether you sing out loud or simply listen along.

Children can dress in their favorite Valentine’s colours, bring a heart-shaped craft to share, or just come as they are. This is a time to connect, celebrate the love that surrounds us, and enjoy a little extra sparkle in the middle of winter.

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Virtual Spring Recital

This spring, we will celebrate the music created by children and their families at Canuck Place with our Virtual Spring Recital. Families interested in taking part can book a virtual session with our music therapists throughout the year, either in person or virtually, to help create a song or video for the showcase.

Let your imagination soar, share your story through music, and be part of something truly special. This event is open to all Canuck Place families!
If you’d like to participate, we’d love to hear from you! Stay tuned for recital dates in our upcoming spring newsletter.

Please email Ingrid and Michaela at [email protected] if you’re interested or have questions about any of our Music Therapy offerings.

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Spring Break Music Therapy Creative Workshop

Get ready to build, play, and create together this coming Spring Break! In this one-day creative workshop, families will have the chance to make their own instruments, learn how to play them and join in making music with loved ones.

Please email Ingrid and Michaela at [email protected] if you’re interested or have questions about any of our Music Therapy offerings.

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National Children’s Grief Awareness Day: November 20

Thirty years ago, one of our founders, Betty Davies, listened to siblings and understood the significance of this. Her research and guidance shapes the philosophy of how we aim to support siblings and families to this day.

Children grieve in the context of school, family, community, culture, and the bigger community, yet we see four common responses: “I hurt inside, I don’t understand, I don’t belong, and I’m not enough.” We can do something. It’s the responsibility of adults to offer space to express their unique emotions, validate, and reassure them.

HOPE the Butterfly was created to spread this message of hope to grieving children across the world. No one can just take away a child’s grief. No one can bring back their sibling who has died. But we can show grieving children that they’re not alone.

We can show them we care. We can show them we’re there for them. Grieving children can hold on to our support, our care. Grieving children can hold on to hope. Although it can seem as if the intense pain will never go away, it can ease over time.

Bring awareness to children’s grief

• Join us in wearing blue on November 20 in honour of grieving children.
• Send us your pictures or tag us on social media wearing blue or with your printed message so we can share messages of support all throughout the month of November.
• Visit the Children’s Grief Awareness Day website to download a printable template for sharing a message of support for siblings and all children who are grieving.

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Join other bereaved families

We know grieving siblings being together while parents and carers connect in their own group to process their grief is one of the most helpful supports we can offer.

Families learn how to express and understand their unique grief, showing siblings, they are not alone, they matter, and they belong.

To learn more about our monthly sibling groups with parents and carers visit our website or contact: [email protected]

Parent support groups

Being with other parents in a supportive group or gathering can make all the difference in understanding your unique experience, feeling understood and connected to others.

We host in-person and virtual bereavement parent support groups until the end of June, and families can join when the time is right. Please express interest at any time. We talk with each person to identify the group that will be most supportive.

Reach out to [email protected] for more information.

Walking the Path of Grief

Walking the Path of Grief information sessions are offered monthly with different topics each month, including understanding the nature of grief, emotions, relationships, holidays, and changing identities.

These sessions provide a shared space to learn more about different experiences of grieving a child. They are intended to best support adult family members who are at least two months bereaved.

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Text message grief support for families

Feel unsure about how to support youth and young adults who are grieving the loss of their sibling?

Are you wondering if a text can really help?

Yes! We now offer grief support delivered directly to your child’s phone thanks to a partnership with an evidence-based program, Help Texts. Available for anyone 13 years and older, the messages are tailored to reflect the complexities of the loss of a sibling, considering important things like dates, ages of siblings, and provides developmentally appropriate information that supports understanding of grief, daily coping strategies and general guidance.

The subscription includes two supporter invitations, so family, friends, teachers, or neighbors can also receive tips on how to support your grieving child.

If you are a parent to adolescent or young adult siblings and wonder if they have the help they need, this is an opportunity for them to receive support and identify two people who can better support them. It is easy to sign up and easy to stop.

This support is available to any family member grieving the loss of a child—siblings 13+, parents, grandparents etc.

For more information, or questions about the program, please email [email protected]

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Butterfly Run wrap-up

Canuck Place joined the 7th annual Butterfly Run Vancouver on October 4 at Olympic Village Plaza. The memorial walk/run helps raise awareness about infertility, pregnancy loss, and infant loss. We know many bereaved families we support are grieving infant loss, and often also pregnancy loss which is why we are strengthening our connections to this dynamic group.

Several staff along with Canuck Place bereaved dad, Jonathan Fehr, who remembers his infant daughter Nadiya, hosted a tent to support runners and walkers to connect, learn more about grief resources, and share their stories. We provided grief resources for infant loss, the book Clemence written by Nadiya’s mom Teejay specifically for young siblings, and buttons for runners: “I am a bereaved parent, ask me about my baby.”

We look forward to finding new ways to work with the Butterfly Support Network to strengthen connections for families grieving the loss of an infant.

A gift from Canuck Place

If you would like an “Ask me about my baby” button to wear or share, please email [email protected] and we are happy to send you one.

Canuck Place helps families carry an infinite light of love

Diana Lee loved to make things—bracelets threaded with careful hands, tie-dyed shirts in vibrant colours, and cheesecakes for the people she loved. She was funny, creative, and endlessly generous.

When she was nine, Diana was diagnosed with a rare neurological condition called Alexander’s disease. The world shifted for the Lee family. They felt isolated and longed for a community that understood them. That’s when they found Canuck Place.

“The day we arrived at the hospice, we realized we were not alone,” says Delmar. “There were others who understood, who had walked through pain like ours.”

Recreation therapist Laura became a constant in Diana’s life. Outings to Michael’s and Granville Island to buy beads, string, and fabric were little adventures that brought big happiness. Back in the family suite at Canuck Place, Diana would spend hours crafting gifts—bracelets for staff and families and tie-dye shirts she knew would make someone smile. For her parents, respite stays at the Vancouver hospice offered a chance to rest and gather strength, knowing their daughter was safe, comfortable, and seen for who she was, not just for her illness.

In August 2022, just ten days before her 13th birthday, Diana passed away at Canuck Place. In those first few difficult hours, the care team held the Lee family close. Laura helped them create molds as they held Diana’s hand and special necklaces with a lock of her hair.

Canuck Place care did not end at goodbye. The Lees were supported through funeral arrangements, bereavement groups, and memory-making gatherings like scrapbooking. “It means everything to know that people remember our child lived, had purpose, and mattered,” Sung Eun shares.

Sung Eun and Delmar say proudly that Diana was their greatest teacher. She showed them how to find the small speck of hope inside a tough day. And that love is not measured by years, but by closeness and care.

Sung Eun carries Diana’s compassionate spirit, giving love and care to those who need it. “Because of Diana, I see the world in a warmer way. We can’t live life alone. We give help and receive it and treat others as preciously as ourselves.”
For the Lee family, Diana’s infinite light shines on in every bead her family threads and in every act of kindness or support that helps another child be held in love.

Miles of love: Mireille Larosa’s Tour de Canuck Place

On September 1, Canuck Place Mom, Larosa, set off on a ride dubbed ‘Tour de Canuck Place’ cycling across British Columbia, in honour of her son Charles, who passed away in 2017. Mireille visited the towns and communities where Canuck Place families live, raising funds and awareness for the vital care Canuck  Place provides.

Larosa spent 15 days cycling around the province, departing from our Vancouver hospice and ending at our Abbotsford hospice, where she was greeted by fans, children, staff, and volunteers celebrating her incredible 1,745 km feat and raising over $81,000! The funds from Tour de Canuck Place not only honour baby Charles’ legacy, but will help provide complex care to children and families at Canuck Place.

Congrats, Mireille on your incredible journey!