Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to all the witnesses for being here with us.
It is a very important issue that we're talking about. First, I would like to acknowledge that our government takes Canadians' mental health very seriously. That is why our most recent health accords specifically allocated over $5 billion in additional funds to provinces and territories for mental health. However, today the context is the pandemic.
My first question is for you, Dr. Trainor. As we know, seniors are now even more at risk of social isolation than they were before the pandemic. My region of Peel is under the lockdown, and there are regulations preventing visitors from seeing parents and grandparents in long-term care. That's combined with the fact that some seniors are not tech savvy, so there is loneliness, with less access to technology. It is a serious issue in terms of staying in touch.
Can you let us know what is the impact of social isolation on seniors and if any of the impacts are unique to that population? What actions can be taken by the federal government to assist seniors with mental health conditions?