For the past two years following the death of his father, Noah Irvine has been sitting with his thoughts on how Canada needs to improve when it comes to tackling mental illness.

The 17-year-old Guelph student lost his mom to suicide when he was five years old and in 2015, his father died as a result of mental illness.

In February, the GCVI student decided to write every member of Parliament in the country, outlining his personal story about the loss of his parents and expressing the need for a national suicide prevention strategy.

He sent out letters to 336 MPs, but only heard back from 40. Frustrated and hurt, he said he expected a larger response.

“(Suicide and mental health concerns) doesn’t just affect Guelph. It affects every constituency across the country,” he said in an interview on Tuesday. “I was hoping more would respond considering how personal my letter was.”

In his letter, Irvine wrote of his father’s death and outlined the complexities of dealing with mental health. Due to that complexity, he said both the federal government and the province of Ontario would each benefit from creating new ministries that deal exclusively with mental-health issues.

Guelph MP Lloyd Longfield has been working with Irvine for months, meeting with him for coffee and even bringing him around Parliament Hill to speak with other MPs about mental-health supports in Canada.

Longfield said Irvine likely received only 40 responses from other MPs because he’s not from their ridings. He said he’s received a number of calls from other MPs about Irvine and the letter he sent and he told his counterparts he was already working with the Guelph youth.

“My responsibility is for my constituents and their responsibility is for their constituents,” he said, but added Irvine definitely has the attention of the government.

In March, Irvine went to Ottawa as part of a forum for young Canadians and met with some MPs who had not responded to his letter. He also sat in on a Mental Health Caucus meeting with Longfield, who’s a member of that group.