Good afternoon and thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the Standing Committee on Health, for inviting us to speak here today.
I am going to start with a stark and sobering statistic for us all. Last year, Kids Help Phone conducted over 4,000 active suicide rescues. Research tells us that for every suicide, 125 people are directly impacted, so not only did we save over 4,000 youth in Canada, but we spared half a million people in Canada from traumatization from grief and loss of a loved one dying by suicide.
The reality of the first wave of the pandemic hit youth very hard. The second wave is just as difficult. The third wave is real—it's the mental health pandemic.
I am here because mental health is one of the most significant crises facing young people today. If we do not find solutions, if we do not ensure that young people can access support, we will lose multiple generations. The future of a strong Canada relies on the well-being of the youth of Canada today.
For over 31 years, Kids Help Phone has been Canada's only national 24-7 e-mental health service for young people in French and English, in every province and territory. In 2020, we interacted and connected with more than 4.5 million people in Canada, typically from age five to age 27, but also adults. That's an increase of 137% from 2019.
I do want you to remember that the clinical teams at Kids Help Phone are on the front lines 24-7 doing a tremendous job, and that is taking its toll.
In addition to being an essential service provider, we use real-time data to inform our decisions and the mental health landscape. We're the only mental health service in Canada combining clinical expertise with AI and machine learning for triaging to deliver better outcomes when young people reach out for support.
We see the impacts of COVID-19 every single day. Throughout the pandemic, conversations about grief have increased, as have conversations about eating and body image, by more than 80%; about gender and sexual identity, by more than 65%; about isolation, by more than 50%; about abuse, by more than 45%, and the list goes on.
I also want to take a moment to recognize that not all youth in Canada are equally served by this system. The underserved, remote, rural and racialized youth in Canada do not have equitable access, which is why Kids Help Phone is so important in addressing this reality.
We are especially worried about the far-reaching effects on some of our most vulnerable young people, including indigenous youth, Black youth, youth of colour, youth in rural and remote environments and youth identifying as LGBTQ2S+. We hear from them every single day. The percentage of young people reaching out to us about racism and discrimination doubled after the murder of George Floyd and the heightened social injustice.
These young people who text us every day are some of the most distressed young people, second only to those young people who fear harm from someone in their own home. When they speak about racism, they are also more likely to speak about suicide. We need to do more—Canada needs to do more—so that these young people do not get left behind.
I think we all agree that it is clear that COVID-19 has been profoundly hard on people's mental health—on youth in particular. At Kids Help Phone, it led to immediate record surges in demand back in March, and it has continued to do so to this day. There were 4.5 million connections in 2020.
Kids Help Phone faced enormous pressure to increase service, as well as grapple with uncertainty around our financial stability, similar to other charities. We are grateful to the Government of Canada, which, over two years, made a significant investment of $7.5 million in our essential services. That critical contribution has ensured that we remain open and that service has been uninterrupted even with record-breaking demands. We did not go dark, not for one minute.
Our work is nowhere near done. It will not be done when COVID-19 is a thing of the past, which we all hope is soon.
Everyone would agree that Canada's mental health sector is somewhat fragmented and struggles to meet the growing needs of Canadians. This is where Kids Help Phone can add value. We are pioneers in virtual care. We continue to expand our e-mental health platform to provide more youth with more seamless access to a continuum of virtual supports. We will work with our partners in the sector and governments to continue filling the gaps. We are leveraging our data, Canada's only real-time data showing what young people are facing, in their words. We speak to them every day. The reality is that we all know that the state of youth mental health was in crisis before the pandemic. It is exponentially amplified.
In closing, as I've said before and we all know, this pandemic will not come to an end when vaccines roll out, or even when the country returns to a new normal. There is no vaccine for the significant implications to our mental health. Canada must be ready to handle the long-term mental health effects of the pandemic.
Kids Help Phone is a trusted partner. Continued partnership between Kids Help Phone and the Government of Canada will play a critical role in providing e-mental health solutions for all the young people in Canada and in leveraging data to better inform policies and health system solutions. This is imperative. The future of Canada is anchored on the well-being and mental health of our young people today. It is on us to right tomorrow for them.
You need to know that Kids Help Phone will always be there for the kids who need us. We will be there 24-7, in every province and territory, in both official languages, for all who need us.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of Parliament and members of the standing committee.