Carolyn Bennett

[Health, November 14th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, our government is engaging now with the provinces and territories to inform on the development of a new mental health transfer, a comprehensive evidence-based plan, including the timely sharing of health data.

We remain fully committed to investing an additional $4.5 billion over five years through the new Canada mental health transfer, and this ongoing engagement will ensure transparency and accountability to Canadians. We are still investing the $5 billion from the bilateral agreements and $600 million for mental health to provinces and territories every year.

[Health, October 28th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, as members know, the health ministers will be meeting shortly, in two weeks, in Vancouver. We look forward to that meeting, as it will be about a lot of the issues the member has raised, particularly how we expand health human resources and how we deal with the kind of health transformation that will get people the most appropriate care in the most appropriate place by the most appropriate provider in the most appropriate time. We are all working together on that, and we look forward to those deliberations.

[Health, October 28th, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I join with the member in believing that our publicly funded, cherished health care system is part of the identity of being Canadian. The Canada Health Act is very clear. There are five provisions that have to be seen in order to have a transfer. I hope that the Alberta premier will listen to us when we meet in two weeks in Vancouver, and her colleagues will let her know how important the Canada Health Act is to all Canadians.

[Mental Health, October 20th, 2022]

Madam Chair, I really just want to thank the member for Cariboo—Prince George for what he has said tonight. It really does help us all try to reduce the stigma. It makes it easier for others to have the courage to share what they have suffered and to understand the role of trauma and how people like you have turned it into being an absolute passionate crusader for others. Your brother has not been so lucky. Therefore, it is just a gratitude that I want to express on behalf of all Canadians.

[Mental Health, October 20th, 2022]

Madam Chair, I thank the member for Guelph for all of his advocacy and for hosting us in Guelph, where we learned a lot about the great things happening on the ground there not only at the university but throughout his community.

We cannot pretend that we can go forward without being able to fund what works and stop funding what does not work, or without understanding the areas of greater need and being able to put additional resources there. We can only do that with data. Last week, I was pleased that the OECD thanked me for my intervention on data at the world mental health conference.

Even with the opioid crisis, at the moment, the Public Health Agency of Canada has placed federal public servants in each of the provinces and territories just so we can get data on the opioid crisis. With the pandemic, the provinces have been struggling, and we cannot do this without the appropriate data.

As we have seen with COVID, we now have better data on immunizations, diseases, emergency visits and ICUs. I hope that will transfer into a real ability, as I am meeting with the health ministers next month, for us all to understand that Canadians deserve to know what is working.

[Mental Health, October 20th, 2022]

Madam Chair, I thank the member for his amazing work on this.

One of the reasons we wanted to have this debate tonight is that his party's request did not meet the criteria for an emergency debate and opposition days can do that. We decided that we would make sure this debate took place. I thank the member for his initiative and all the hard work.

I met with the CAMIMH members the morning of the gala, when our colleague, the member for Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, received an award, and I walked them through what we needed to do. I think a lot of them understand that we need to put in place the kind of transparency and accountability for Canadians that we see in the child care arrangements. This is something we will all be able to work on together, but it will not stop us from delivering the kinds of programs we are doing on substance use and mental health innovation, as well as the programs within the bilateral agreements, with the $600 million a year that is ongoing.

We will work as quickly as we can to put in place the principles for that transfer and then negotiate with the provinces and territories to ensure that data comes back and that there is transparency and accountability for all Canadians.

[Mental Health, October 20th, 2022]

Absolutely, Madam Chair. Coordination, communication and collaboration with all of the provinces and territories is a priority. I think that the provinces will have the capacity to deliver therapeutic mental health services. Planning is very important. Over the next year, we need to coordinate, just as the member said.

[Mental Health, October 20th, 2022]

Madam Chair, I want to assure the member that in my first years in Parliament, we set up a separate subcommittee of the HRDC committee on disability issues. I chaired that committee for five years. It was a small committee that did exceptionally good work, including on mental health and the disability tax credit.

I would be pleased to entertain that idea. Obviously we have to work with our whips and House leaders to man it and get supports and services from the House of Commons, but there is certainly a lot to discuss. As a pledge, I would be very happy to meet with the all-party mental health caucus as soon as possible.

[Mental Health, October 20th, 2022]

moved

That this committee take note of mental health.

Madam Chair, I would first like to acknowledge that I am on the unceded and traditional territory of the Kanyen'kehà:ka who have been the stewards of these lands and waters since time immemorial.

I believe it is important that parliamentarians be able to demonstrate to Canadians that we share their concerns and are listening to those with lived experience of this issue, the experts and the frontline workers. We will implement evidence-based practices to respond the the mental health parallel pandemic.

The past few years have been difficult for several reasons.

Isolation, financial and employment uncertainty, and disruptions to daily life have left many people across Canada struggling to cope with stress, anxiety, depression and loneliness, and young people are expressing their serious concern about climate change.

It is clear that COVID-19 has pushed an already stressed health care system to its limits, and we know that it can be a challenge for Canadians to know where to look for help, find help, find the right help and access that help right away. Sadly, during this time, when so many of us needed support, support was all too often out of reach.

Caring for those struggling with their mental health and substance use has not been consistently available across Canada, and when it was available, Canadians often faced long waiting lists. This is not a new problem, but like so many gaps in our health and social systems, it was amplified by the pandemic. Those who were underserved by our health and mental health systems before the pandemic are suffering even more now. More than half of all Canadians feel that their mental health has worsened since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over 70 years ago, Canadian war veteran Dr. Brock Chisholm, the first director general of the World Health Organization, stated, “without mental health there can be no true physical health.” Mental health must be treated as a full and equal part of our universal health care system. Canadians should be able to expect the most appropriate care in the most appropriate place by the most appropriate provider at the most appropriate time.

We are working with the Standards Council of Canada, as well as our provincial and territorial partners, to develop national standards for evidence-based mental health and addiction services in the priority areas identified with our provincial and territorial colleagues. The work is being supported by $45 million over two years, and we are encouraged by the incredible early progress on national standards for integrated youth services, the wraparound care now being adopted by all jurisdictions.

Since 2015, we have made historic investments, including the $5 billion to provinces and territories to increase the availability of mental health care, $598 million from the distinctions-based mental health and wellness strategy for indigenous peoples, $140 million to support veterans and $270 million for the Wellness Together portal. Through the $5 billion in provincial and territorial bilateral agreements, we are now providing $600 million additional annual funding until 2027 to expand access to community-based mental health and addiction services for children and youth and integrated services for people with complex needs, and to expand proven models of community mental health care and culturally appropriate interventions linked to primary health services.

We also remain fully committed to investing another $4.5 billion through the Canada mental health transfer. Over the past year, we have heard clearly from partners and the community that the new transfer needs to be based upon a comprehensive, evidence-based plan, including the timely sharing of health data to ensure transparency and accountability to all Canadians.

Last Monday, I met with my provincial and territorial mental health and addictions counterparts to share wise practices. Next month, the Minister of Health and I will meet with all provincial and territorial health ministers in Vancouver to chart our way forward, focusing particularly on health human resources, including the expansion of the concept of the mental health workforce.

Tonight I would like to congratulate and thank my colleague from Prince George being appointed critic for mental health and for his hard work on suicide prevention and the 988 three-digit helpline. We also know that it is essential for Canadians to have timely access to suicide prevention. They need to know they are not alone.

We welcome the CRTC's decision to approve the new 988 three-digit suicide prevention line, and are working to ensure it has the capacity for a successful launch next fall, together with the national action plan on suicide prevention, which will update the existing framework.

We have partnered with CAMH to oversee the implementation of the crisis line, and we are investing $21 million over five years through CAMH to implement and sustain a fully operational pan-Canadian suicide prevention service. We are also working closely with American counterparts to learn from their four-year implementation process for the similar service they launched earlier this year.

Tonight it is imperative that we all communicate that, if people are struggling with thoughts of suicide right now, or know someone who is, help is available at 1-833-456-4566.

While the pandemic exacerbated the gaps in mental health supports available to Canadians, it also accelerated the use of virtual care options to help expand the availability and flexibility of those services. In April 2020, we launched Wellness Together Canada. Its online portal has served as an invaluable connection for many Canadians, allowing them to get the help they need even when they could not leave their homes, and it can be used as a stepping stone to receive advice on where to find more specialized care.

The companion app, PocketWell, also ensures that Canadians have access to the mental health and substance abuse services they need, no matter where they live, and that they are able to access resources 24-7. As of October 17, nearly three million individuals across Canada have accessed the portal in over eight million web sessions, and the app has been downloaded over 30,000 times.

A total of $130 million was invested in the Wellness Together Canada portal between April 2020 and April 2022. Budget 2022 has provided a further $140 million over two years, so it can continue to provide Canadians with tools and services to support them. The feedback from the users of the portal has been very positive.

Although COVID has resulted in more people struggling with mental health, it seems to also have resulted in us all becoming a bit more open to talk about our own mental health. When more people are comfortable talking about mental health, it helps to reduce the stigma that is still a tremendous barrier to seeking care, but the care must be there when they need it. We must design wraparound supports from the bottom up, listening to those with lived and living experience, together with the people who are in their communities who are doing such great work.

We know there is much more to do.

I look forward to participating in this timely and important debate. I also look forward to hearing what my hon. colleagues believe we can do to better support Canadians' mental health.

[Health, October 3rd, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his ongoing advocacy, particularly during Mental Illness Awareness Week.

Mental health is health, as he said, and our government has made mental health a priority. Since 2015, we have made historic investments in support: $5 billion to the provinces from 2017, $600 million every year still ongoing, and almost $600 million for a distinctions-based mental health and wellness strategy for indigenous people. We know that we need to do more, and we will do more.