Thank you very much. Thank you for the invitation for the Mood Disorder Society of Canada to present at this very important committee.
My name is Dave Gallson. I am the associate national executive director for the Mood Disorders Society of Canada. I have to give my regrets for my colleague, Phil Upshall, who is unable to attend with me here today.
I know that many of you are already familiar with what our organization does and the role we play in mental health care, but I'll just begin by providing a bit of background.
We're a national, not-for-profit, consumer-driven, voluntary health charity. We are committed to ensuring that the voices of persons with lived experience, family members, and caregivers are heard on issues related to mental health and mental illness, particularly when it comes to depression, bipolar illness, and other associated mood disorders, as well as PTSD and suicide.
MDSC was formally launched and incorporated in 2001 with the overall objective to provide people with mood disorders a strong, cohesive voice at the national level to improve access to treatment, inform research, and shape program development and government policies to improve the quality of life for people who are affected by mood disorders. Over the past 15 years, MDSC has been a dedicated and effective leader in efforts to revamp and improve health care on a national basis.
We partnered with the Public Health Agency of Canada to produce the first report on mental illness in 2002, as well as a second report in 2006, “The Human Face of Mental Health and Mental Illness in Canada”. We aIso played an important support role as a key resource to the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, which was chaired by Michael Kirby and the Honourable Marjory LeBreton. The committee's report, “Out of the Shadows at Last”, resulted in the current government's creation of the Mental Health Commission of Canada.
As a proven and trusted partner to the Government of Canada when it comes to helping Canadians who are affected by mental illness, MDSC is ideally positioned to share our experience and knowledge with the Standing Committee on Health as it undertakes this national study on mental health in Canada. There are a couple of areas outlined in the study's framework where I believe our input could be particularly useful for the committee. I'm referring to section D, how to coordinate the efforts of stakeholders at the national level to improve care and best practices for mental health care and suicide prevention.
MDSC prides itself on our record of collaboration. We have developed programs and resources, and educational programs such as continual medical education programs with such organizations as the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Psychiatric Association, Bell, the Mental Health Commission of Canada, Corrections Canada, the Canadian Bar Association, the Canadian Nurses Association, regional health centres, and the list goes on and on. We are truly a strong collaborator in Canada.
We have just signed a new collaborative agreement for our national peer support program with the Public Service Health and Safety Association, which has 1.6 million members. Our national peer support program consists of 17 serving and ex-members of the military, RCMP, and regional police forces. They go across Canada and they teach police forces and organizations how to implement and set up a peer support program to support their members.
ln a major national initiative aimed at ensuring that the Canadian mental health and addictions systems respond collaboratively and appropriately to the unique needs of first nations, Inuit, Métis, and other persons with lived experience and their caregivers, MDSC and the Native Mental Health Association of Canada, with support from the federal government, launched “Building Bridges: A Pathway to Cultural Safety” in April 2009.
As part of this groundbreaking initiative, both national organizations and allied stakeholders across the country collectively developed a comprehensive planning framework on cultural safety that would allow programs and services to deal more effectively with major systemic issues and barriers such as labelling, discrimination, colonization—