Mom asks Manitobans for help finding missing son with schizophrenia
A mother in St. Catharines, Ont., is asking Manitobans to help her find her son, who has schizophrenia and was last seen in Manitoba nearly a month ago.
Yvon Shawn Guignard, 34, was last seen at Thompson General Hospital in the early hours of Nov. 28, RCMP said. His mother Wendy Guignard said he had been visiting a friend who was getting treatment there and disappeared soon after arriving.
"Not a moment or day goes by [where] we don't hear from him and wish that we could hear his voice," Wendy Guignard said Sunday from her home in St. Catharines. "I definitely would give anything to get a phone call from him."
RCMP told Guignard that her son had been frequenting the homeless shelters in Thompson up until late November, and members of the community reported his disappearance. She said although her son liked to travel, he's never gone more than a few weeks without checking in with them.
'I'd love to believe he's OK'
"He's not suicidal by [any] means. He suffers from schizophrenia and his psychiatrist always said that he would never be compliant," Guignard said. "I'd love to believe he's OK, but my gut says 'No.'"
Earlier in the summer, Guignard said Shawn admitted himself to the St. Catharines General Hospital for mental health treatment. After about two weeks, he was released.
"I was very angry that they let him go," she said. "I even spoke with the psychiatric ward and told them that I wouldn't have a problem coming in there and demonstrating how unwell he was.
"He's had schizophrenia since he was 19-years-old, so I know him like a book. It's easy to find his triggers, but they believed that he was well."
After his release from hospital, Shawn drove to British Columbia in search of work, his mother said. When he couldn't land a job, he drove back with a hitchhiker to Lynn Lake, Man., and spent the summer there, working at the local Esso gas station. He then moved on to Thompson.
'He loves homeless people'
"He loves homeless people, he just loves them," Guignard said. "He's always said to me he could live like that; it wouldn't bother him."
She said he's also an experienced outdoorsman.
"He loves to fish, loves nature in general. If he's anywhere hiding out, that's where he would be — probably somewhere fishing or in the woods," she said, adding that all of his camping gear is still at the trailer he owns in St. Catharines.
Guignard said he can't refill his schizophrenia medications without a hospital admission, so she believes he's been off of them now for several months.
"He's definitely not well. Probably pretty hungry, cold. His health is not well, obviously. That's my concern is his health."
Shawn, not Yvon
She said everyone he knows calls him Shawn, but when he's ill, he refers to himself by his given name, Yvon.
"He has a lot of people that care a lot about him," Guignard said. "I want nothing more than to get that phone call to say that he's found. That would definitely make my day."
Thompson RCMP have Shawn's truck in their possession. His mother said he poses no threat to others.
"He loves everybody, he's not mean at all," Guignard said. "He's a little bit gullible at times, but he just loves life. He's just very easy going."
She said the holidays have been especially difficult, and she and Shawn's father spent them with their daughter and her family.
'Sit and wait'
"The only thing that made it a little bit of a Christmas was our two grandchildren. They needed Christmas, so we go through the motions," she said.
"Everybody is an emotional time bomb. So, of course you sit and wait."
RCMP said Guignard was last seen wearing a bright yellow winter construction jacket with black ski pants.
He's six foot one and about 155 pounds.
Anyone with information on Shawn Guignard's whereabouts is asked to contact Thompson RCMP at 204-677-6909 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
