Agriculture Committee on Oct. 4th, 2018

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Hello.

Welcome, everyone, to our committee as we pursue our study on mental health challenges in the agricultural community.

With us this morning we have Rebecca Lee, executive director of the Canadian Horticultural Council. Welcome again, Rebecca. Thank you for being here with us today. We also have Beth Connery, chair of the labour committee. Welcome, Beth, to our committee.

Also, from the Ontario Sheep Farmers, we have Ms. Jennifer MacTavish, general manager. Welcome to our committee, Ms. MacTavish.

We will start with a six-minute opening statement.

Do you want to start, Ms. MacTavish, for six minutes? Thank you.

[Jennifer MacTavish, General Manager, Ontario Sheep Farmers]

I'm here this morning on behalf of the Ontario Sheep Farmers. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today to talk about farmer mental health.

Ontario Sheep Farmers represents 3,000 farmers, who contribute over $465 million to Ontario's economy. Ontario is home to the country's largest sheep flock. We process over 50% of all the sheep and lambs born in Canada. Together with our partners Alberta and Quebec, we have formed the “national sheep network”, which leverages the provincial resources we have in order to work collaboratively on topics of mutual interest.

Perhaps more importantly, though, I'm here today as someone who has worked for and with farmers for almost 17 years, and has grown increasingly concerned about their mental health. While much of my career has focused on promoting agriculture and business risk management—when it comes to livestock, that often means animal health—farmer mental health was never top of mind.

A few years ago, I took a mental health first aid course offered by the Canadian Mental Health Association. Sitting in a room full of first responders and social workers, I found myself thinking about the farmers in Wellington County, who at that time were dealing with an outbreak of avian influenza. Prior to taking the course, I had been reading accounts from farmers who had spoken of the social isolation that comes from having an infected flock. One account that stays with me was a farmer's painful recollection of no one wanting to sit beside his family in church.

Leaving that course, I recalled the times when farmers had called me, distressed about how low land prices were or frustrated by the new regulations that were coming into effect. One time a farmer sat across the table from me and tearfully recounted how a coyote had maimed his daughter's 4-H lamb. I couldn't help but wonder if I had done enough for them. Did I offer them enough support, or had I been sighing in frustration because there was nothing I could do about low land prices? Was I perhaps trying to get off the phone as quickly as possible so that I could get on with my “real work”?

I started to talk to anyone who would listen about my concerns around farmer mental health. To be honest, at the time the audience was small. It is heartening to see that since then, the audience has grown and the agricultural community has come together around this issue. Thankfully, Dr. Andria Jones-Bitton at the University of Guelph not only listened to me but grabbed hold and threw herself into researching farmer mental health. Her research has been instrumental in not only encouraging a dialogue around farmer mental health but also shaping the way in which we understand it.

We know that farming is a high-risk industry that requires an incredible capacity to deal with volatility and uncertainty. Over the course of this last year alone, Canadian farmers have endured drought, porcine epidemic diarrhea, and the financial impacts of the negotiation and subsequent signing of NAFTA 2.0, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement. While we can acknowledge that all of these examples may impact a farmer's business, it's not often that the conversation delves into how these challenges are both out of the farmer's control and have the capacity to impact their mental health, which in turn impacts their productivity and farm viability.

Add to this that as farms grow larger, farmers are becoming more physically isolated and are growing increasingly socially isolated. The public understands less and less about farming, and in some cases it is vilifying agriculture as a whole, and farmers as individuals.

Historically, farmers have been dealing with these burdens quietly and stoically on their own. We need to change this. A failure to address farmer mental health poses a serious threat to the sustainability and viability of Canadian agriculture. Dr. Jones-Bitton's research confirms that farmers face high stress, anxiety and depression. They are also reporting low levels of resilience and a high risk of burnout. In addition, there have been many media reports citing that farming is one of the most stressful occupations worldwide. In occupations in the U.S., death by suicide is highest amongst farmers.

Not widely understood are the impacts that poor mental health and low resilience have on farming. Based on research about the impacts of mental health in other occupations, we can surmise that poor mental health in farming threatens farm productivity, is a barrier to growth and innovation, and may contribute to the ongoing attrition of farmers. As a representative of the livestock industry, I cannot ignore the fact that farmers' mental health most likely impacts their ability to provide adequate care for their animals. While I appreciate that we cannot eliminate all of the stresses of farming, we need to support our farmers so that they not only survive but also thrive.

We also need to make sure that programs and support for farmers are designed by farmers. One cannot simply adapt programs designed for the general population; they will fail in the agricultural context. For example, recommending vacations or spending more time in nature does not resonate well with farmers, nor is it really applicable in a farming context.

I see the sign, so I'm going to skip down to my last paragraph.

It is difficult to reconcile how we will be able to have a sustainable food system in Canada if we do not have healthy farmers. Canadian farmers are telling us that their mental health is a serious issue, and they are demonstrating that they need help. This needs to be addressed.

It is time for us to step up and start taking better care of the people who are feeding us.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Now we'll move on to the Canadian Horticultural Council. Who wants to start?

[Dr. Rebecca Lee, Executive Director, Canadian Horticultural Council]

I'll start, and then we'll switch.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Sure.

[Dr. Rebecca Lee]

Thank you very much for having us here.

Good morning, everybody. We are very pleased to provide input into your study on mental health challenges in agriculture.

The Canadian Horticultural Council is an Ottawa-based, voluntary, not-for-profit national association that represents fruit and vegetable growers across Canada involved in the production of more than 120 different types of crops, with farm cash receipts of $5.4 billion in 2017. This is the foundation for an estimated produce value chain of nearly $14 billion of real GDP and 181,600 Canadian jobs.

For almost a century, CHC has advocated issues that impact Canada's horticultural sector. We promote healthy, safe and sustainable food while ensuring the continued success and growth of our industry.

[Elizabeth Connery, Chair, Labour Committee, Canadian Horticultural Council]

To achieve such growth and success requires affirmative support and the existence of business conditions that will motivate farmers to continue with their lifestyle.

My name is Beth Connery. I'm chair of the Canadian Horticultural Council's labour committee, and I would like to share with you some of my experience.

These people operate under incredible stressors. Financial pressures, labour shortages, reduced competitiveness, and weather challenges are all being faced on a daily basis. Labour, in particular, is an ongoing issue for horticultural producers. We rely heavily on the seasonal agricultural worker program to provide needed employees for planting, harvesting and packing our produce. This past year, many employers had difficulty sourcing their employees in a timely fashion. This meant that there were crops not sown or transplanted, and other crops that were ready out in the field with no one to harvest them. We work with very thin margins, and starting a crop year with a loss makes it very hard to work long hours for the rest of the year in the hopes of covering that loss and making even a marginal profit.

Farmers, like most people, have a variety of coping mechanisms and reactions to stress, anxiety and depression. They run the gamut from keeping busy—at anything—to avoidance and procrastination. Many tasks are done alone, increasing a sense of isolation. Even those who have dealt with depression in the past can be caught unawares by this insidious disease.

This past spring and summer saw drought-like conditions in Manitoba. A friend thought they were dealing with the stress fairly well—talking with friends, exercising, practising self-care—all the usual recommendations they had learned when dealing with depression previously. Then came the first significant rainfall of the season, and they realized that a load had been lifted off their shoulders. The smiles came more readily, and they felt better.

Farming organizations are becoming more concerned with the mental health issues their members are facing, and most, if not all, are providing links to resources in their communications. Social media campaigns are actively promoting the information and resources. The Do More Agriculture Foundation has been formed, and the University of Guelph is developing resources as a result of the mental health survey many of us participated in.

As a farming family, we are very cognizant of the pressures and results of anxiety and depression. In June 2012, we became suicide-loss survivors when my husband died of depression. His brother and business partner had died of a heart attack six months previously, and he was under increased pressure to do both jobs. We had dealt with his depression before, but the added pressure was finally too much for my husband.

In my opinion, these people are not choosing to leave their families, nor are they avoiding the problems they are facing. They are choosing to end the pain they are living with. This is not something I can understand, because I have never had the feelings they obviously do, but we are left to pick up the pieces and move forward as well as we can.

We have had many family and one-on-one conversations about the importance of mental health. We have had access to and used counsellors on various occasions, both as a family and individually. One of us has called the rural help line to talk when they needed it. It was considered to be a positive experience because they felt forward motion when counselling sessions were set up for them.

The downfall of some of these systems is their lack of familiarity with the farming community when we finally see a counsellor. For most farmers, farmer is what they are; it is not what they do. The distinction can be very important when dealing with emotions and a new path forward.

There are immense pressures on farm families today, and we want to rise to the challenge, but we need help in dealing with the issues that are within the control of regulators. Things like weather we have no control over. For me personally, right now, it's been raining in Manitoba—finally—for the last month, but that means that I have a million dollars' worth of carrots sitting out in the field and no way of getting them in. That is going to crater anybody's business plan.

Government needs to enable us, not hobble us. We are proud to produce safe and nutritious food for our families and consumers to eat. We believe we are good stewards of our lands and plan to pass our farm businesses down to succeeding generations as they were passed on to us. However, the current pressures can make us look at our children and wonder if we really want to put them through what we are experiencing.

Again, thank you very much for this opportunity. I would welcome any questions for follow-up.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you very much, Ms. Connery.

We will now start with our questions. I want to welcome Mr. Lloyd and Mr. Motz, who are also on our committee today. In replacement, I think we have Mr. Tabbara and my colleague at Fisheries and Oceans, Colin Fraser, here with us today.

We welcome everyone today, including the rest of our regular members.

We will start with Mr. Dreeshen for six minutes.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer—Mountain View, AB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

To all of our witnesses today, thank you for being here.

Ms. Connery, certainly our hearts go out to you, understanding just how difficult it is to be in that type of situation. Then, of course, it falls to people such as you to carry on, and with the difficulties that are there.

One of the things you mentioned was that government needs “to enable, not hobble”. I think that's a critical aspect, because I don't think we look at it from the three levels of government...and the things that happen.

We are talking about federal issues here, because we have some capacity to help in that regard. There are also provincial regulations that you have to deal with, with labour standards and that type of thing. Even municipally, there are acreage owners who are coming in, wondering why every once in a while it smells—because manure is put on the land—and why it's dusty. The odd time they say you should be shutting it down so they can get some sleep. These are things that we never had to worry about.

I wonder, Ms. Connery, if you could speak to the labour side of it and whether there are issues there. In Alberta, we're at a stage now where they're saying that if there's a certain number of people, they have the right to unionize. There's just no relationship to the investment that one has in the operation versus those people who will come and go on a day-to-day basis.

We understand the security of person and so on, and why there has to be safety, but are those issues that you feel are creeping into your industry as well?

[Elizabeth Connery]

In vegetable and fruit growing, and many of the other horticulture industries, labour is an incredibly key issue. We cannot operate without enough labour. We cannot get enough labour from the Canadian market, and that is why many of us use SAWP or the Ag stream from the temporary foreign worker program. Without those people, we cannot operate. It comes down to that.

Also, it appears that the system has become more complicated as we go along. Certainly, 25 years ago the paperwork was not nearly at this level. We have no objection to playing within the rules, and to there being clear and defined rules, but we need to have access to those people.

On our farm, we have about 56 foreign workers who come in during the year. They start in May, when we start our crops. We start with asparagus. We actually have a six-month harvest period. For those of you who know how busy a harvest is, ours is for six months. We have those guys—and mostly we have guys—stay for the full length of our term, right through the end of September and into October, depending on when we're done with our broccoli and carrots—which I hope we'll finish sometime.

Without those people, we can't operate, and this is true for almost all horticulture operations. It's a necessity.

I know people think that we should be able to find workers here, or that people who come up should have a pathway to permanent residence. That is something we would be happy about for some of our employees. However, we do not have work for them for the other four or six months of the year, so how is the Canadian population going to support them for that time?

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer—Mountain View, AB]

When we talk about that.... I know people who are involved in the business that you are. With the other stressors, it comes down to having to buy a $250,000 piece of machinery to take out five or six people who would be working on the line, because you just can't afford it.

Of course, the other thing, sadly—not so much with the foreign workers but with other workers—is that if they're supposed to be there on a certain day, maybe you're going to get a phone call saying they're not coming—or maybe you're not. These are the other issues. How do you run a business that way?

Ms. MacTavish, one of the things you mentioned was the vilification of the industry and attacks that come from what I would suggest are vested interests. Whatever they are trying to do just ends up doing damage to the farms.

Could you explain that in the short time I have left?

[Jennifer MacTavish]

Sure.

There are a couple of different examples.

One is that specifically when we are dealing with ruminant agriculture, people think that grazing cows and sheep is ruining the environment. They'll say that they don't want to be grazing animals anymore. Really, when we're grazing pasture land, we're renewing soil health and providing habitats for pollinators and birds.

There are always.... I shouldn't say that so emphatically. There are oftentimes these black and white stances: “We shouldn't eat meat. We shouldn't be raising animals. We shouldn't be grazing animals.”

For people who are farming livestock, that can be very hard to hear sometimes.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer—Mountain View, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you, Mr. Dreeshen.

Mr. Drouin, you have six minutes.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for being here.

I'd like to ask Ms. MacTavish and maybe the CHC about this. In terms of the way you're bringing that conversation on mental health to your membership, is that conversation happening?

In Ontario, for instance, I know that the Ontario Federation of Agriculture has started to have those discussions. But, as you know, unless there's a major issue, sometimes attendance can be somewhat sparse. If there's a major issue, people show up. If there isn't a major issue, attendance is usually at a lower level.

How do you communicate that message, and what have you been doing in terms of providing that message to farmers and saying, “Hey, it's okay to reach out”?

[Jennifer MacTavish]

In our context around the sheep table, it's a bit different. I have four board members who have dealt with suicide since January, whether it was that of another farmer they knew or somebody within their small community. Around our board table, the discussion is perhaps a bit different from discussions around other board tables. I'm also really stubborn and just talk about what I think needs to get talked about, which is mental health. I am really concerned about them.

I'm very lucky with the sheep farmers in Ontario, in particular. They have really been opening up and creating an environment where it's okay for them to call me up and let me know what's going on. I've learned from some of the courses I've been taking to challenge myself when I start to feel afraid to ask how they're doing. I force myself to just ask them the question and then be willing to sit there, listen to them and create that environment for them to be comfortable doing that.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

That's great.

Do you want to jump in, Ms. Connery?

[Elizabeth Connery]

Sure. The CHC itself has a publication called “Fresh Thinking”, and this is actually one of the topics in our issue this fall. I also find that almost every commodity has this on their communications list this year. Most of us are very tuned in to Twitter, Facebook and all those kinds of things, and it's all over the place.

Also, I think that with the advent of more women on boards there is more ability to have those conversations and to keep them going. Very often, it doesn't matter what the meeting is about; if you're having a group meeting, people are tacking that on as an item so that it gets repeated as they go along.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

A witness on Tuesday was a social worker who was previously a farmer. She goes out directly to farms to do a sort of health check: “How are you doing? Do you need help?”

Is this something that you guys are working on as well? Or would you push for a program like this within your provinces?

[Elizabeth Connery]

I would think that programming like that would be helpful. We haven't started pushing for anything like that yet, although certainly we have a good relationship with our ag department and some of the other departments where you could ask for that.

As always, it comes down to a case of resources. We're balancing what we need with what they are going to deal with.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

One of the issues where we're trying to come up with a recommendation is the issue of fighting that stigma in terms of mental health. It's ever-present for farmers and within the farming community, but it's also present within the general population.

Ms. Connery, you've touched on an important point. Often, when you go to your doctor, they will prescribe for you what they prescribe for the general population, as opposed to having, say, a customized kit for farmers. If there were a few recommendations that you would propose to this committee, understanding that health care delivery is provincial, is there something that the Canadian Mental Health Association could be doing, for instance, to better target farmers?

[Elizabeth Connery]

I think that perhaps it's about making sure that those who are in contact with farmers actually have a farming background so they understand the time pressures, the constraints and the isolation. Also, it's about making sure that people are talking. Certainly, six years ago at my husband's funeral, we stated what happened, and that started a conversation in our community—rather than hiding what happened and saying, “He died of mysterious causes.” No. It started a conversation, particularly for us in our age group, but certainly it was able to carry down into the younger generations, as well, to talk about the fact that mental health is important. You have to take care of yourself. You have to talk to other people.

Trying to get that message out is very hard to do. Certainly, having an ag background would make things more effective, because when you finally do get to counselling, you get suggestions that are just not practical on a farm and that you cannot implement. Go on a holiday...? Well, I can't do that for eight months of the year. I could plan for one in 10 months, but that's not helping me right now.

Having that understanding, finding different ways to cope and creating avenues for people to talk would be a very good way to start.

[Jennifer MacTavish]

I want to add that I think this is where Dr. Jones-Bitton's work really comes in handy. She's been doing a lot of participatory research with farmers and is advocating for a centre of research, a central hub in Guelph where we can talk to farmers and make sure that the programming that's designed for them works for them.

I would also recommend that anybody who works with farmers day to day—whether an industry association person, a feed rep, a manufacturer or a banker—take a mental health first aid course so they can recognize the signs of somebody in distress, make themselves feel comfortable asking farmers how things are going, and know where the resources are.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Thank you very much.

Mr. MacGregor, you have six minutes.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I'll start with Ms. MacTavish. We had a conversation before committee about our love of sheep. Sheep are amazing animals. I have a very tiny flock. I've had wool from my flock spun and knitted into a Cowichan sweater. I'm from Vancouver Island, so I had Cowichan Tribes knit my sweater.

There are a lot of misconceptions about animal husbandry and the critical role it plays, not only on the farm but in our economy. I know that in some cases the concerns out there are justified. However, as you said, I don't think there's a really clear understanding of how animals are raised. It is in the farmers' best interests to make sure their animals are healthy. This is the source of their income.

I'm interested in how we go forward. Rather than having the two sides talk at each other, in what ways can we have a conversation, a respectful dialogue where we start fermenting the value of farmers? Do you have any suggestions on that?