Agriculture Committee on Sept. 27th, 2018

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Welcome, everyone.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), we will commence our study on mental health challenges that Canadian farmers, ranchers, and producers face.

We welcome this morning the following witnesses: Mr. Alain d'Amours, the General Director of Contact Richelieu-Yamaska, Mr. Martin Caron, First Vice-president of the Union des producteurs agricoles, and Mr. Pierre-Nicolas Girard, a mental health consultant who will be talking to us via video link.

Mr. Girard, can you hear me?

[Pierre-Nicolas Girard, Consultant in Mental Health, Union des producteurs agricoles]

Loud and clear.

Hello everyone.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Hello.

Each of you will have the floor for six minutes and I will be watching the clock.

Let's start with Mr. Caron.

[Martin Caron, First Vice-President, Union des producteurs agricoles]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee.

I will speak first and then it will be Mr. Girard's turn.

I will start by quickly describing what is the UPA, the Union des producteurs agricoles. The UPA represents 41,406 farmers and 30,000 forestry producers in Quebec. Our network is comprised of 12 regional federations as well as 26 affiliated or specialized groups.

Psychological distress is a real problem in the farming sector, indeed it is a huge problem. The ever-increasing need for investments and the heavy regulatory burden are some of the many factors at play.

Farmers are grappling with financial uncertainty. I believe everyone here knows about the ongoing NAFTA negotiations, which will have repercussions. Another source of distress is the lack of workers, as well as finding a work-life balance with conflicting work and family obligations.

We have to look at the problem holistically and take into account farmers' working conditions. This is very important. The psychosocial and healthcare services that are offered to this group will also have to be adapted.

We are making three sets of recommendations. I will start with the first and then Mr. Girard will talk to you about the two others.

These recommendations are primarily about prevention and are based on socioeconomic factors as well as health promotion measures.

On the prevention front, we recommend programs that will support the transfer of farms to the next generation. This is very important for tax planning purposes, and something must be done.

We propose developing a recruitment and training strategy in order to have a competent workforce, which includes foreign workers.

We also recommend simplifying administrative documents. As you know, the complexity of government programs means that our members are spending more time and energy filling out paperwork. In many instances, people give up.

We also would like to see compensation measures that are tailored to the realities of farming and limit the economic impact of commercial accords on farm business margins.

Moreover, we hope to see a risk management program which would deal with climate change. In Quebec right now, we're suffering from a drought. We need programs that are current and provide help and advice.

Finally, we need a national professional training and support strategy for farmers. These two aspects are also very important.

I would now ask Mr. Girard to continue.

[Pierre-Nicolas Girard]

Allow me to introduce myself. I have been with the Union des producteurs agricoles for 47 years, 43 of which as a permanent member. For the last four years I have been working as a consultant on mental health issues.

Over the course of my career, I have regularly seen cases of terrible mental distress and farmers with suicidal thoughts. Sadly, some of these thoughts were put into action. This has been my motivation in continuing my work with the UPA.

Mr. Caron mentioned our three sets of recommendations. We based them on various studies on the farming sector that are available for consultation, should you wish to do so. The main one is Enquête sur la santé psychologique des producteurs agricoles du Québec, a study on farmers' mental health conducted in 2016 by Ginette Lafleur and Marie-Alexia Allard. The authors examined 78 cases of farmers who had taken their own lives; more than half had sadly been diagnosed as suffering from mental health problems. We concluded that we must improve access to services and tailor them to farmers, which brings me to our second set of recommendations.

Let's go back to the recommendation on improving psychosocial and healthcare services. The community as well as the healthcare sector have to understand the realities of farming. To that end, we suggest that the Canadian Mental Health Association develop a program for farmers. As you can see, our recommendations are always based on the realities of farming, such as lifestyle, work hours, and the unending pressure on our members to be more productive.

We are also recommending a prevention strategy based on promoting health and a better work-life balance. This year, we have chosen to promote work-life balance. Agriculture is a vocation, and farmers are passionate people who regularly work more than the recommended amount of hours. They are often forced to, of course, but they also do it because of their passion. We seek to promote a better work-life balance for farmers.

Then there's the issue of public healthcare and psychosocial services across Canada. Access to these services is fairly good in our cities and suburbs, but in many regions in Quebec, and I presume elsewhere in Canada, it is quite difficult to get decent services.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Mr. Girard, I have to interrupt you unfortunately, because your time has come to an end. Thank you very much.

We now go to Mr. D'Amours, who is representing Contact Richelieu-Yamaska.

[Alain d'Amours, General Director, Contact Richelieu-Yamaska]

I will try to be brief.

[Pierre-Nicolas Girard]

Could I perhaps speak again during the round of questions?

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

There will indeed be questions and you will have the opportunity to respond.

[Alain d'Amours]

Contact Richelieu-Yamaska is a crisis intervention centre serving the entire population. We are in the Saint-Hyacinthe region, which is home to many farmers.

Over the years, the public image of farmers has changed. In the past, they were thought of as people with little education, and later as people with a lot of money. Now, farmers are considered bothersome because their machinery is too slow on the roads. All that to say that the public image of farmers is not very positive, which definitely plays a role in their distress.

Let me give you a few examples of what we see at our crisis intervention centre. When someone calls us, it is because they are at the end of their rope and are contemplating suicide. People call us to say they can't take it anymore and that death is their only way out.

Consider for example the man who got his arm caught in his machinery. For a farmer, losing an arm is very serious, because they feel they can no longer work. The man went to the hospital and killed himself there. No one was able to intervene. His wife had to come to terms with this, and I worked with her. To top it all off, she could not even attend his burial because she had to milk the cows.

It is a different kind of work, a different world. That is what you have to understand. That is what the public has to understand. That is what the health system has to understand. It is the system that needs to adapt to farmers, and not the other way around. Farmers work a lot. They call us when they can, and we have to answer when they call. We have to help them when they call, help them find other solutions.

Someone told me that his great-great-grandfather had given some land to his great-grandfather, who left it to his grandfather, from whom he inherited it, but he was going to lose it because he had run out of money. Suicide was his only option because there would be insurance money. It is not easy coaxing someone away from the edge of the cliff. This person was going to lose not only his farm, but also his identity, and he would become a failure to his family. That gives you an idea of what we are dealing with.

There are other examples that people do not think of. In our area, we just have volunteer firefighters, and they are often farmers. Someone in Saint-Hyacinthe fell into a manure pit recently and died from it. It was his fellow farmers who pulled him out of the pit. Imagine their shock! They pulled their friend out of a manure pit. Is there a worse way to die? They were in a very sorry state.

All these people go through traumatic events. They need help. We have been able to help them, but we need structures and the resources to meet their needs quickly so we can help them deal with their suffering before their distress is too great. These farmers are hurting and they are often at risk of suicide.

In cases of suicide in farming communities, it is not just the deceased, but everyone around them that suffers. I have talked to farmers' sons and daughters, and it takes a tremendous toll on them. In farming, the father is often seen as the role model and the strong person in the family. The children say that if their father could not tough it out, they would also have to commit suicide since they are weaker than him. It is that self-perception that we have to address in our work. It is difficult. We need to work with the health networks.

Next week, you will be meeting representatives of Au coeur des familles agricoles, an organization we work with. In many cases, we start working with their clients when they become suicidal. We are equipped to do that, we can accommodate them or see them at home; we can support them. Once farmers reach that point, it is borderline. The suicide rate among farmers is 20% to 30% higher than in the rest of the workforce, which proves that it is a different world.

I will stop now so you can ask your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you very much, Mr. d'Amours.

Now, from the University of Guelph, we have Dr. Andria Jones-Bitton.

You have up to six minutes. Thank you.

[Dr. Andria Jones-Bitton, Associate Professor, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph]

Thank you for the invitation to speak with you today.

I'm Andria Jones-Bitton. I'm an associate professor at the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph, and my area of research focus is farmer mental health. I understand that some of you in the room are farmers.

I think we've known about the issues with farmer mental health for generations, but they haven't been talked about because of the culture in agriculture and the taboo in the agricultural community. For various reasons, that's now changing, and the agricultural community is talking.

You now have a prime opportunity to act, because we can't have a sustainable food system in Canada if we don't have sustainable farmers. I genuinely believe the federal government can help strengthen Canadian agriculture, and I would like you to consider three recommendations: one, support a Canadian network for farmer mental health; two, provide a federal funding stream for farmer mental health research; and three, support evidence-based training programs for agriculture and Canada's agricultural and veterinary colleges.

Why do I make these recommendations? Out of growing concerns for our farmers, I conducted a survey of farmer mental health in 2015. This was originally intended to be a small pilot study of Ontario livestock producers, but because of requests from other provinces and other commodities, we extended it nationally. This speaks to the desires of Canada's agricultural community to talk about farmer mental health. The survey measured five mental health outcomes using validated psychometric scales, and over 1,100 farmers from across Canada in all commodity groups participated.

Regrettably, our anecdotal concerns were confirmed. Forty-five per cent of our farmers scored in the high stress category; 58% met the scale's definition for anxiety, and 35% met the definition for depression. Burnout was also a concern in our farmers. Burnout is measured on three subscales: high emotional exhaustion, high cynicism and low professional efficacy. Finally, resilience is a state of being that promotes wellness and decreases the impacts of stress. Unfortunately, two-thirds of our farmers scored lower than the U.S. general population. This leaves them highly vulnerable to the effects of chronic stress, anxiety, depression and suicide.

Poor mental health in farmers is a concern for the individual farmer, but it extends beyond that. It also impacts farm families, their livestock, their production and their businesses. We don't yet have specific estimates of the impacts of mental health on farming outcomes—this is something my team is working on—but extrapolating from what we do know, we can expect it to limit farm production and be a major barrier to growth and innovation. Canada wants to boost its agricultural exports from $30 billion to $50 billion to $75 billion, and innovative technologies will certainly help with this, but we will absolutely need healthy farmers to achieve this goal.

Poor farmer mental health is also a threat to animal welfare. Our research confirms that farmers who are mentally unwell are often unable to adequately care for their animals, even though this is important to them. Major animal welfare incidents are related to mental illness.

Canada boasts a strong reputation in agriculture, and people like Canada's agricultural brand. We need to support farmer mental health to protect this reputation. We also need to consider the high risks of burnout. Burnout results in high job turnover and poor retention. You've heard farmers complain about the inability to retain good farm help, and younger farmers share doubts about taking over the family farm, because they've watched their parents struggle for years.

We need to increase farmer wellness and resilience. Farmers experience a huge range of stresses, and we won't ever be able to completely eliminate the stresses that farmers experience, but we can help farmers build their resilience to boost their ability to bounce back from challenges and thrive. Resilience is a skill that can be learned, and benefits of wellness include improvements to health, productivity and retention, but we need to make sure that we are providing evidence-informed training programs that work. If there's one thing I've learned from my work with farmers, it's that you usually get one shot, and if we waste farmers' time, we risk not getting them back to the table.

We don't have a national strategy in place for farmer mental health in Canada. This leaves our farmers and our ag sector highly vulnerable. Interest in farmer mental health is growing across Canada. We must avoid duplication of efforts and maximize our resources. A Canadian network for farmer mental health would allow for coordinated efforts across the country.

Through participatory action research, it would produce practical research that farmers actually want, effective training programs that farmers will actually use, and would help implement wellness and training curricula for students in agricultural and veterinary colleges, so that we can train people early. To do this, we need to create a transdisciplinary network across all provinces and territories and produce the resources that are specific for agriculture and delivered by people who know agriculture. By doing this, we help strengthen our farmers, our agricultural sector and help them be poised for growth and innovation.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you very much, Dr. Jones-Bitton.

We will now begin the question period.

Mr. Berthold, you have six minutes.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you all very much for your testimony. We do not have much time and parliamentarians have a lot of questions about this. That is why we wanted to leave more time to ask you questions.

I have two quick questions for you. Would it be possible to get a copy of your presentation? I see that you are reading from your notes. It would be helpful for us to have them too, since we did not have time to hear your full testimony. We would appreciate it if you could send them to the committee.

Mr. Chair, based on what I have heard this morning, the importance of this study, and the importance of talking about the mental health of farmers, all the committee members will agree with me that this study should be televised so we can discuss it in front of Canadians. Would it be possible to do that for the rest of the study? People beyond the farming community need to hear about this. We have to explain to all Canadians the problems that farmers face.

Returning to your testimony, Mr. d'Amours, you said that the public perception of farmers is not improving, unfortunately. We have a unique opportunity to focus on farmers and their problems.

Mr. Chair, would it be possible to take the necessary steps for this study to be televised?

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Of course, we will do that. It has to be requested every time.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

I think the subject warrants it.

Mr. d'Amours, you are nodding in agreement, but tell me why that would be helpful.

[Alain d'Amours]

In cities such as Montreal, people buy their food at a grocery store. They do not think about the people who worked to grow those fruits and vegetables or to transport the meat to the store. They do not think about that. So farmers are seen as not being very useful to society, which is completely untrue. Yes, we need to raise awareness of this.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Girard, do you agree with that?

[Pierre-Nicolas Girard]

Yes, especially since I have noticed over time that consumers are open to hearing about farmers' problems. We have had booths at fairs and the interest we saw was incredible. Most consumers have a rather idyllic concept of what it is to be a farmer. They think about beautiful farms and nature, for instance, but behind that image in many cases are families who are under stress and in distress.

It would be an excellent idea to televise your debates and discussions in order to inform the public, especially about the experiences of the witnesses appearing before you.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Caron, you have listed a number of factors. There is shared jurisdiction for mental health. Mental health services are under provincial jurisdiction.

Among the problems and factors you listed that add to farmers' stress, many fall under federal jurisdiction. You talked about farm transfers, labour strategies, administrative streamlining and compensation measures. We have been waiting for such compensation measures for a long time, in particular as regards the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and our partnership with Europe.

How can politicians' actions and government decisions have a real impact on the daily lives of farmers?

[Martin Caron]

That quickly affects the daily lives of farmers. Young people also invest. Investment in farming is currently in the millions of dollars. Millions of dollars are invested and people still hope to recoup their investment through revenues. Yet changes including climate, political and economic changes have major impacts.

That is why we have to think about this. We have to recognize that looking after producers and farmers means looking after our food supply in Canada.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Caron, I have just six minutes. Your presentations were so relevant that I could ask the three of you questions for hours.

You talked about adapting the system to farmers' realities, but how can that be done?

[Alain d'Amours]

I can give you some examples, specifically in Quebec.

[Pierre-Nicolas Girard]

I can also give some examples.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Okay, we will hear from each of you in turn.