ESTEVAN — As the world celebrates International Women's Day (IWD) on March 8, the Mercury is once again paying tribute to a local woman who makes our community a better place. (Previously, we shared stories of Blanche Keating, Melodye Pierson, Amanda Minchin, Jacquie Mvula, Jennelle Wimmer, Lynn Trobert and other great local women, the articles can be found here, here, here, here and here.)
The IWD 2024 campaign theme is Inspire Inclusion, and, resonating with the theme, we are sharing the story of Debbie Hagel, who for over 40 years, has been advocating and bringing in changes to ensure more people in the southeast and beyond could enjoy equal opportunities and rights.
Hagel has been the executive director of Southeast Newcomer Services and Southeast Advocates for Employment for years, leading a team of dedicated people in their effort to make the southeast more inclusive for everyone.
"For me, inclusion means having a voice, feeling safe, feeling heard, and contributing to your community in any way that works for you, not somebody else, but for you," Hagel shared.
While Hagel appears as an intrinsic part of the southeast community, her story doesn't start here.
Roots of the passion
"My parents had six children, and we were all born in different provinces," said Hagel (nee Grass).
"I appreciate the childhood I had because it was very unique. Of course, we didn't have sleepovers, and we didn't stay in communities really long – we finished off the school year and then we were up and off, catching up to my father, who had already relocated somewhere else. We lived in Alberta, Winnipeg, Montreal, the Maritimes, Ontario, in very, very diverse communities throughout my whole life."
Hagel was born in Edmonton. Her father, Bill Grass, worked for a large retail company, trying to save stores from closing, if possible. The family moved a lot, living mostly in bigger centres, but sometimes also in smaller communities all across the country, and Hagel ended up going to three high schools.
Despite some challenges with this lifestyle, looking back, she says that among other things, regular relocations played a role in shaping her values and interests, and also affecting her professional choices. But there are also other factors, such as her father's strong personality and her family history.
"I had an uncle, Alan, who had a disability. On my mother's side, there were 12 children, and Alan was one of the middle children. I remember my mother telling me that he had to be carried around on his pillow for the first six years of his life, and he wasn't expected to live. And when I was a young girl of 12-14 years old, my uncle Alan was thriving. He lived on his own and had a job," Hagel shared.
"The family rallied around him, to make sure that he was thriving. He wasn't outcasted, he wasn't segregated. He was part of the family and they made it work. And I think for me, that was a big takeaway.
"I always say, every individual has potential. It's finding that potential and making it work."
Hagel's first full-time job was in Brockville, Ont., with a community living association, an agency that was trying to deinstitutionalize individuals with a mental disability. Off the start, she put her passion to work, but that was just the beginning.
Discovering SE Sask
Even though Hagel travelled a lot, Saskatchewan wasn't on her map until her parents decided to move here full-time. Her father first found a job in retail in Estevan in the early '80s, and shortly after purchased the Carnduff Gazette Post-News. Hagel took a year's leave to visit her family in southeast Saskatchewan.
"Mom and dad decided to semi-retire, so they bought the newspaper. And that's how I got out here. I decided to come and visit and actually fell in love with Estevan," Hagel recalled.
"I did a little bit of work with the target population. We did a summer program where individuals who had an intellectual disability that perhaps weren't connected to family, could have summer vacation. … We rented a building at Kenosee for the entire summer and rotated individuals, so they could go to the beach, go for walks and to a park."
That happened close to 40 years ago. Since then, Estevan has long become home, giving Hagel what she was missing elsewhere.
"I knew I wanted to raise my children with a sense of belonging in a community where they knew their cousins and their aunties and their grandparents, because of course, when we moved around so much, we didn't get that opportunity," she shared.
"I love Estevan. It has become my home. … And I know that with what's happening in the background, Estevan is going to thrive again. Just give it a little bit more time, but we are going to remain the Energy City. I think Estevan is a great, great place to live, to raise children and be included."
It was in Estevan where Hagel met her husband and raised their two daughters. And just like her job, her family also was inclusive.
"I have a wonderful family. I was married to a gentleman, he passed away 16 years ago. … He was a farmer to the core and a heavy-duty mechanic who worked at the mines. We had two children.
"My oldest is adopted, and she's First Nations. Part of the '60s Scoop. My apologies. I just wanted to be a mommy. We learned as much as we could about her culture and shared that with her. Was it difficult for her to be a First Nations child in a white family? Absolutely. Would I have expected the racial tensions with her growing up? I didn't expect it, but they were there.
"But we have since met her birth mom. … She's now family. … My daughter has two mothers, so when she's in trouble, she's really in trouble," Hagel said with a laugh.
The family then had another daughter, and Hagel had to advocate for her younger one during her school years as well, through her child also helping other kids to be included in a not-so-perfect system.
Advocating for inclusion here, there, everywhere
In the early '90s, following her passion for inclusion, Hagel secured a job as an employment consultant with the Saskatchewan Association for Community Living – an agency advocating and working on behalf of people with intellectual disabilities.
"I had a small caseload down here in the corner, and my job at that time was to find employment for people with intellectual disabilities, but we also had a big responsibility advocating to the government in regard to anything and everything that affects people with intellectual disabilities," Hagel recalled.
"I remember working with people, and I would ask them, what they [wanted/needed] and they didn't know. Back in time, people were usually told where they were going to live, what they were going to do. And now we were giving a voice to people, and people needed to learn how to use that voice.
"Even back in the 90s, even in this area of the province, we still institutionalized our children with intellectual disabilities. There was a school in Oxbow that closed in the late '90s. It was for children that had an intellectual disability," Hagel said noting the Oxbow school was among the last ones to close, thus opening the way for a more inclusive education system and society.
"That was a big move that took a lot of years to transition. Parents were afraid of change, afraid that their children would get lost."
Hagel recalled a story from her Brockville experience, illustrating how far institutionalization and fear could go.
"I'll never forget the young man I met. This is how bad it was in the '70s, '80s, '90s. His parents passed away. First his dad. And a few years later, the mom.
"The mom passed away at home, and it took a few days for somebody to realize. When everyone showed up and the family was notified, they heard something in the attic. And there was a 20-some-year-old man living in the attic, who was their son, and they hid him all those years because they were afraid that the system would take him away from them and put him in an institution. So that young man was hidden his entire life.
"We were the very first agency to bring that young man into a home. He ended up going to work in a shop. And he thrived. He actually thrived," Hagel recalled.
"I've had some delightful experiences that really resonated with me and propelled me to do better in my lifetime, and that certainly was one of them."
Hagel says she was fortunate to get into her career at a time when the deinstitutionalization of intellectual disabilities was already underway and had an opportunity to help many people succeed in life. But soon new challenges came her way.
"I recognized very quickly that it was more than just people with intellectual disabilities that needed support and advocacy," Hagel shared.
Within a few years, Hagel expanded her portfolio to include people with any disability. That put the start to a separate community-based organization – the predecessor of the current Southeast Advocates for Employment. In a few years, they merged with a similar agency in Weyburn, and eventually, they also decided to widen their scope, turning the organization into a service designed to integrate individuals with any employment barriers.
Hagel's experience proved that oftentimes it takes an understanding of the system, creativity, willingness and a bit of pivoting to make the community more inclusive for a person with disabilities.
"I remember working with a gentleman, he was a long-haul truck driver, and he had broken his back. The only thing he needed, so he could long-haul truck again, was an adaptation made to the seat of his truck," Hagel shared. "Through knowing the system and where the sources are, we were able to have a seat designed and installed in his truck, so he could go back to work. That gentleman was selling his microwave and his TV out the back door to help pay the rent, he'd been off work that long. And he thrived, he needed just that little bit of support."
Throughout the years, Hagel and the teams she worked with placed thousands of adults and youth in employment as well as post-secondary courses, opening new opportunities for them and the world around them.
"We do a project called PATH, planning alternative tomorrow with hope, to help youth see where their dreams, goals and aspirations are. And we had a young boy many years ago, who did PATH and decided in May he wanted to go to university and become a journalist. I remember the father was nervous. We were talking about Regina, the big city.
"We ended up getting this young boy into Regina. We got him into housing that was related to his disability. We got him hooked up with paratransit. But he was a very, very proud young man, and never wanted to use a scooter. But when we toured the University of Regina I said, 'With a scooter, you'll get to class on time'. So, he got a scooter. And he thrived. He went in to become a journalist, and he switched his second year to psychology. And he ended up being an assistant to his prof," Hagel said, sharing another success story.
She kept helping people with disabilities in the southeast, when in the early 2010s another opportunity to help even more people came her way.
"In 2012-13, the proposals were coming out to set up settlement gateways across the province to provide settlement for anyone that's coming in from another country, another province or coming off a First Nation community," Hagel shared.
They submitted a proposal and soon widened their audience by covering settlement needs through Southeast Newcomer Services. The Settlement Workers in School (SWIS) program was brought in later to help newcomers adapt to the school system. They also run a program called Transitions, working with youth with disabilities transitioning into either employment or post-secondary, and have a similar one for newcomer youths.
"It's building blocks to get to where we're today," Hagel said, hinting they are working on bringing in another service. "Everything has always been about being inclusive.
"I think inclusion is as important as the air we breathe. Inclusion is a fundamental right that a lot of people are denied.
"We've come a long way in the last number of years, night and day, but we can always do better."
Hagel said everything the organizations she leads have achieved throughout the decades has been a team effort. She takes her passion, puts it into action and with the help of similar-minded people, despite any challenges, they kept changing the region to be more inclusive.
"I don't believe in the word no. We will make it work. Go to where the dream makes sense, is what I've always told people. What is your dream? And how can we get you there? I don't say no. I make it work. That's my passion," Hagel shared.
