Health Committee on May 2nd, 2019

[Dr. Tinus Wasserfall]

I work in downtown Vancouver, so it's easy, right? The physical location is easy and I alluded to that.

In any case, in health care, we're on the cusp of a big technological revolution. It's going to happen in the next 10 years. It's slowly happening now, but I predict we're going to see major changes in health care in general in how we use technology and how people are treated. Health care providers will still be there, but it's about how we interact with technology and how we deliver care.

I talked about the patient medical home, which I feel very strongly about. I truly think this is a virtual patient medical home, whether it's for trans kids or for gay guys who live in Firefly, B.C.—if there is a place called that. I think that's really going to be the future. I really think that's an important initiative to look at for the future, that we have virtual online resources for this group to access care in an appropriate way.

Going back to PrEP, I don't think we should have any new HIV infections in this country. I think it's unacceptable. PrEP should be available, but I do hear from my patients that some of their friends live in small places where their health care providers don't even know about PrEP and don't want to prescribe it. They say to use a condom instead, or whatever.

That's another thing I want to tie in. I really think that technology is going to be super important in the future, both for support for health care providers and for the patients on different levels.

Social networks—

[Robert-Falcon Ouellette, Liberal, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

I only have about two minutes and 30 seconds left. I have a question about newcomers, and maybe Crystal or Dustyn can talk about that.

Let's talk about the mental health of newcomers who are in the LGBTQ2 community and young people who are dealing with parents who are perhaps new arrivals and they are first-generation Canadians.

We haven't talked much about that. Can you give us any insights into the needs of that population?

[Crystal Fach]

I have a background in working with newcomers as well. There's an intersectional layer of oppression there. We need more services to be provided in an anti-oppressive way. A lot of times when we go to settlement agencies, we have translators, for example, and we don't know who.... A lot of times those folks are coming from those communities and those communities are small and they know families. Sometimes the barrier to accessing support can be the settlement worker or the interpreter. We need to do more work on anti-oppressive training.

We also need more organizations that cater to newcomer LGBTQ youth. I know OCASI does some of that work, and there are pop-ups. In Windsor we have a few folks doing that stuff as well.

There are also safety factors that come in. I know that recently—and correct me if I'm wrong—something was passed whereby LGBTQ rights will trump religious rights in certain situations.

How do we navigate that while still allowing those youth to keep their faith intact? There's dignity in that, and I think sometimes we're forcing folks to choose between those two things. We need to do more education where we can allow people to have multiple identities in one person. I'm not just a queer woman; there are lots of other things about me. I think that's where the services and the wraparounds need to be more inclusive.

[Dustyn Baulkham]

I have a specific example from a recent refugee who joined us in Kelowna. He was our grand marshal last year. He'd fled Syria. Ever since he was in the news for being a grand marshal and sharing a story, he's been getting hate messages online from his own country and from his family. Obviously, he can now never go back. I don't think he's getting the proper resources and support that he needs to come to terms with that.

I know we're getting a few more refugees in Kelowna as well. They're LGBTQ2 identifying, and it will be interesting if they have those similar experiences.

[Robert-Falcon Ouellette, Liberal, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Do agencies have enough supports for newcomers?

[Dustyn Baulkham]

No, they don't, specifically for LGBT. I know they're really lacking in that sense. He didn't even go through the main organization that we have. He went through Rainbow Refugee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

The time is up.

Thanks very much.

Now we go to Mr. Richards.

Mr. Richards, we're all learning a lot here, so feel comfortable.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

Thank you. I appreciate that.

We didn't have a lot of time. It seemed to go by just like that.

I really did appreciate the answer you gave at the end, Mr. Baulkham. I think it was very well put that government tends to not lead the parade, but follows the parade. Certainly the work of many people to advocate and push the government in the right direction is needed, as it is true in many things.

Having said that, we were sort of in that conversation about the looking back piece. Do any of the rest of you want to add anything to what was said, or do we want to now look ahead?

Ms. Fach or Dr. Wasserfall.

[Dr. Tinus Wasserfall]

Is it still whether this government or society that led change?

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

That's what I'm kind of trying to ask. Do you think the progress and the change that we have seen was led by society or do you think it was led by organizations or the government?

[Dr. Tinus Wasserfall]

At the grassroots level, it's probably led by society.

I'm not being political here. I don't know any of your political affiliations. I remember Jean Chrétien said that a minority right is not a majority vote. I think that's the way politicians can also make a big difference. He was talking about gay marriage; that's what he said and he put through the legislation. I do think it's grassroots level, but I think you guys as politicians are super important in making things happen as well.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

Ms. Fach, do you want to add anything or does that pretty much concur with the others?

[Crystal Fach]

I agree with exactly what you just said.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

Okay, let's look ahead.

Ms. Fearman, I know you had comments you wanted to make, so we'll start with you. Then we can go to any of the others.

I heard a lot of different things, besides some of the stories that you told me. Ms. Fach, you told about your tragic story of your friend. Mr. Baulkham, you talked about TransParent Okanagan. Things like that are all progress, but I heard that 42% of gay and lesbian teens attempt suicide at some point. I forget who talked about this; I could be wrong with what I heard. There are obviously higher rates.... It was mentioned about higher rates of alcoholism, drug abuse and all these things.

I'm going to make an assumption that this probably relates to—it might have been Dr. Wasserfall who said it—the longer someone isn't who they are, the more likely things like that will be the result.

Obviously, there's a lot of progress that's still needed. Looking ahead, what is needed for more progress? What do organizations like the ones you're part of need to do? What does government need to do?

Ms. Fearman, we'll start with you because I know you had some things you had wanted to say.

[Loretta Fearman]

I think funding for smaller organizations in smaller communities is absolutely necessary. For me, in this area, it's the Gilbert Centre. They're supporting the whole community. We need to ensure that there's funding for those organizations. That's one thing.

I don't want to take up all the time.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

I understand.

I know we've had some things mentioned about the health care system in particular. There's quite a bit of that. Obviously, that's more of a provincial jurisdiction. I'm not saying don't talk about that, but are there things specifically that would fall federally?

Mr. Baulkham, you can go for it, and then Dr. Wasserfall, maybe you would like to follow.

[Dustyn Baulkham]

Crystal said something earlier around a lot of pride organizations being cisgender, which is true. I think it's funding those organizations that are run by people with the actual lived experience in that situation. If we're talking about trans health, then it should be a transperson who is leading that. We should be funding those types of organizations because then you have the experts doing it, not someone who has no experience. They might have other experience, but not the important part.

[Crystal Fach]

In that stat you were quoting, it was 45% of trans folk who attempt.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

Thanks for correcting me on that. I wasn't sure I had it right, and I obviously didn't. Thank you.

[Dr. Tinus Wasserfall]

Once again, this is from Vancouver and our local health authority. Moving away from mental health disease, which is a thing on its own that needs resources, to moving to mental health wellness, which really is where you want to have the folks be before they move over to that, we do luckily have some programs looking at that.

Our health authority runs specifically for men, once again, 12-week programs on different topics such as mindfulness, yoga or mental well-being. That's really important. The initiative that I've seen locally has really helped people. It's just starting, but it's been amazing. I think that would be for all groups.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

The time is up.

We'll go to Mr. McKinnon now.

[Ron McKinnon, Liberal, Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, all, for coming.

Mr. Baulkham, you indicated you were puzzled why you're here. I have days like that.

Of course, we're interested in hearing from people who have lived experience and expertise in this particular subject matter. You indicated in your testimony that one of the problems that you saw—and Dr. Wasserfall mentioned this in his first story—is finding organizations that are aware and sensitive to the particular needs of LGBTQ2 people. Dr. Wasserfall called it a medical home.

I was wondering if you can suggest, starting with you, Mr. Baulkham, ways that organizations can self-identify to signal to people that they are the right place to go.

[Dustyn Baulkham]

I don't know if there's one silver bullet on what that looks like. I think from a health perspective, I said there were some type of.... Maybe it's a training system, and that might be better for you to talk about to get that knowledge they need.

Maybe there is some type of—I don't know—certification, so they have at least the baseline knowledge of the LGBT community. That way I can look and know they're going to have a general sense as to my needs, to my friend's who's trans, or whatever that may be. They can provide the appropriate referrals.

I think, even from my pride hat, it would be nice if someone reached out, and there were some type of directory or something that I can go and look at and know that there's this specialist who has this expertise, and they understand the LGBT community because they've taken x, y, z training. I think that's a lofty goal, but it's something for us to strive towards so that we can all get the support and resources that we need.

[Ron McKinnon, Liberal, Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Would that be a certification program of some kind with some sort of sticker for the door?

[Dustyn Baulkham]

Well, I'd say more of an online directory than anything, because then you could obviously search it.

We talked earlier about the medical area changing and being able to do teleconference with practitioners. I think that's a great way for us to get that specialization that we need with people who have education on the LGBT community.