Reason
The Reason & The Passion
My Motivation – A Personal Tragedy
The mechanism of coping with grief and bereavement hits close to home; following the high-profile 1996 murder of my mother, Patricia Grace Ducharme, by a former Vancouver Police Officer, I began my long journey through grief and living with trauma. After years of therapeutic counseling to help come to terms with the complex grief, it became apparent there was a lack of resources required for victims, like me, to move forward in their lives. Luckily, for me, I discovered a homicide-loss support group in Edmonton, which made a big difference and instilled my passion to create support programs, resources, and law reform to make a meaningful difference.
My Inspiration – A Canadian Hero
I began my philanthropic career around the same time that the movie ‘Pay it Forward” was released in the year 2000. At the same time, I met my first Canadian hero, Michael Cuccione, from The Michael Cuccione Foundation inspired me to live with love and compassion. He opened my eyes and introduced me to amazing circles of people including his parents, Gloria and Domenic, in 2002 who gifted their love and compassion to everyone they met. From then onward, I noticed all the beautiful people in this world who were committed to ‘making a difference’ (Michael’s quote), and it made me want to follow in their footsteps. Michael died at the age of 16 with a dying wish that no other child would suffer from cancer again. Truly an honorable and admirable young man.
Watch this short 3 minute video of Michael’s heartfelt story!
“Ducharme” Defined
The name “Ducharme” carries deep meaning. In French, charme refers to charm, allure, and inner grace. True to his name, Mr. Ducharme channels that essence into his work — using empathy, insight, and hope to guide others through trauma and healing.
Ducharme was born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1981 and relocated to Vancouver, BC at nine years old with the separation of his parents. At fourteen, a childhood tragedy occurred when his mother was brutally murdered by her live-in boyfriend and a man Ducharme looked up to. This event began to shape Ducharme’s life direction of philanthropy.
To overcome his pain and find resolve, Ducharme participated in the Fraser Valley Community Justice initiatives’ Victim Offender Mediation Program and first met with his Mother’s killer in prison in 1999 and later again in 2012 and 2018. His story is profound; his ability to forgive the man who murdered his mother shows incredible insight and his will to not just live, but to also be happy. For several years he participated in sharing circles with youth inmates and adult lifers on the importance of forgiveness, compassion, healing, hope and reconciliation.
In 2003, Ducharme achieved his Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Concordia University of Edmonton where he also published his first of two books: “The Truest Aspirations of a Poet.” As Vice President of the Concordia Students’ Association, Ducharme was recognized as the University’s ‘Student of the Year’ for his commitment to community engagement and student life by planning and executing 32 successful events in just 8 months. He received the ‘Jason Lang Award’ for demonstrating strong community leadership and for triumphing after social adversity.
As an offshoot from his use of rollerblading as a physical release for the strong anger, Ducharme spearheaded “A Blade to Consider;” a $35,000 charity fundraiser dedicated to his mother and to a university friend, Const. Peter Schiemann, one of four fallen RCMP officers killed in Mayerthorpe, Alberta in 2005. By thirty years of age, Ducharme had sadly lost 5 people to murder. Happily for Vancouver, he returned in 2007 and set out to help wherever possible; first, as a Youth to Adulthood Transition Worker helping high-risk aboriginal youth in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side.
From 2008-2014, while in a management career with Scotiabank, Ducharme volunteered as Director, Board Chair and President of the British Columbia Bereavement Helpline Board of Directors. Under his presidency, he garnered awareness, credibility and support and fundraised over $750,000 to create ‘BC Victims of Homicide,’ a sustainable, province-wide homicide-loss support program. He networked with the Prime Minister, federal ministers, world leaders, academic and financial institutions, celebrities, communities and partners and actively coordinated and participated in federal press conferences, round tables, conventions, symposiums, lectures and galas. He was the Keynote Speaker at the Western Canada Conference for Victims of Homicide, an expert witness testifying on bills in the House of Commons, and a National Spokesperson for National Victims of Crime Week in Canada.
Ducharme also created and co-produced ‘Aftermath of Murder: Survivor Stories,” a Canada-wide online media education series consisting of 18 short form documentaries that reached an audience of over two million giving the surviving victims a voice in the media and in society. One of Ducharme’s most grateful memories was performing his own poetry, in therapeutic expression, at a national conference in Ottawa. He played an integral role on the Federal Ombudsman’s National Core Planning Team to help create Canada’s first ever, Canadian Victim’s Bill of Rights in 2012.
For making significant contributions to Canada, Ducharme was duly nominated by Canadian Parents of Murdered children and the Rick Hansen Foundation to be a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Award. He also ranked in the top 25 of 7,000 medal bearers nominated for the Rick Hansen 25th Year Anniversary Relay and was featured on CTV’s national documentary as a ‘CTV Featured Difference Maker.’
Ducharme is an orator, a dreamer and a visionary; his life mission is to assist with the development of international homicide bereavement and prevention programs. His ultimate goal is to remove ‘murder’ from our news vocabulary and to remediate the effects of the harm and misery it creates. Murder is an unnatural and preventable global issue; therefore, it deserves global attention, a serious commitment of funding, dedicated administrative and program support and altogether, a global promise for social and psychological change.
In 2010, Ducharme conceptualized “Vision 2030,” a project that directly answers the 2013 UN call for bringing attention to the global homicide issue, naming it a world issue for the first time in history. Ducharme’s philanthropic approach will spark a new global community that will empower countries around the world.
Ducharme’s aim is to live a loving, happy life by maintaining high quality relationships and hold an optimistic sense of self. He has spent the last 10 years of self-care and living in peaceful Cowichan Bay on Vancouver Island. Ducharme regularly practices personal development work: sharing circles, yoga, meditation, exercise, reading, journaling and writing. He cherishes his family and being in nature: canoeing, photography, hiking, mountain biking, camping, hosting, touring and travelling. In addition to ongoing therapy, Ducharme belongs to a men’s support circle practicing authenticity, honesty, openness and integrity, so he can live responsibly and in alignment with his values.
Ducharme is also a Solopreneur integrating personal meaning to a variety of services in tourism, transportation and photography. *View the Ducharme Services website.
Ceremonial Silver Bracelet by Wilfred (Bill) Finn
Hand-carved in shimmering sterling silver by renowned Cree artist Wilfred (Bill) Finn of northern Saskatchewan, this Ceremonial Silver Bracelet is a deeply personal and sacred artifact. Though Finn is Cree, his mastery of West Coast Indigenous formline design brings together traditions in a rare, respectful fusion—honoring not only his heritage, but also the spiritual resonance of the coastal lands and waters.
The Orca, depicted in fluid lines that echo the rolling tides of the Salish Sea, is more than a creature of the ocean—it is the spirit guide, the soul witness to a moment forever imprinted in memory. On the day we released our mother’s ashes atop Galiano Mountain, twelve orcas surfaced in a perfect circle below the cliff edge in a celestial choreography that felt like a message from another realm. The orcas came not just to observe, but to guide, to accompany, to bless the passage between worlds. It was then the name “Loving Orca” was revealed as a totem spirit that is sovereign of the sea, marking a life path rooted in empathy, connection, and guardianship of the deep.
The Eagle with claws perched on a tree, symbolizes our mother’s spirit—sovereign of the sky, watcher of the world from above. Together, the Orca and the Eagle form a symbolic balance—sea and sky, spirit and body, grief and grace. Each line, each curve, holds story. As a Libra, the sun and moon carvings reinstate that harmonic equilibrium, the ying and yang, and the ebb and flow of life energy.
Introduced to Bill by a member of the BCBH Board of Directors at my final BCBH Annual General Meeting & Fundraising Gala in 2015, this precious artwork was crafted with the precision of a master and gifted to the soul of a witness. It is both a ceremonial object and a living story, told through silver and spirit, that is not simply worn; it is carried—like memory, like legacy, like love.
Personal Loss & Charity Publications
Flip Book: Patricia Grace Ducharme Murder Story Articles
*Click Here to view Brock Graham’s most recent parole hearing update.
Flip Book: Lynn Duggan Murder Story Articles
Flip Book: Peter Schiemann Murder Story Articles
Flip Book: Charity Articles
Documentaries and Articles
Galiano Mountain, Galiano Island
Full drone documentary of our family’s memorial ceremony where we spread our mother’s ashes. Demonstrating our expressions of grief and loss and honoring of our loss and healing.
Vancouver Sun Interview:
Podcast about the Graham Murder Stories
*Warning: These contain graphic descriptive content.
Part 1 – Murder Most Pointless – Lynn Duggan & Patti Ducharme (BC)
Part 2 – Murder Most Pointless – Lynn Duggan & Patti Ducharme (BC)