It is with much sadness that I pass on the news that Dave Beamish passed away in Vancouver on December 23, 2011. His obituary is below. You can read further on Dave and leave a message in the condolence book on the link provided in the subject line.

I talked to Dave pretty much every day and his passing was quite unexpected. I was proud to count Dave as a friend, mentor and inspiration. His work at the Canadian Mental Health Association, National Office resulted in a strong push to include consumers in meaningful ways at all levels of the Association. I have often referred to him as the “Granddaddy of the consumer movement in Canada.” He was on the founding body of the National Consumer Advisory Council, responsible for the creation of the Consumer Involvement Award, instrumental in guiding the development of the National Network for Mental Health, as well as many other successful initiatives.

I met Dave almost 23 years ago when I joined the Framework for Support project ‘Building a National Consumer Network’ at CMHA National. I have many happy memories of Dave and I will always treasure how we connected through our struggles and shared our triumphs as only peers can do.

Dave was a kingpin in inspiring and organizing consumers through participatory democracy. I very much doubt that the consumer movement in Canada would have enjoyed such strength in the late eighties and early nineties without Dave’s energy and passion for his dream of a strong network of consumers using their voices to try to change a very broken mental health system.

Here is something Dave wrote in the eighties and appears in ‘King of the World, Poems and Prose by Dave Beamish.’ It’s one of my favourites.