Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Bradley, the Mental Health Commission of Canada prepared a very good brief on e-mental health in Canada. That said, I'd like to make a general comment. We often say that happiness is in our head, meaning in the way that we see things when we get up in the morning. At the same time, the pandemic is showing us that, throughout history, mental illness has never had the same status as all other illnesses. It has always been overlooked in our health care systems. This is coming back to hit us square in the face now that we're in a crisis.
I gathered from your presentation earlier that we must continue to invest in the determining factors of mental health, to intervene proactively and to improve our ability to reverse poor mental health situations that lead to suicidal conditions. Obviously, there were suicidal conditions before the pandemic, but these conditions may have been exacerbated by the crisis. As decision-makers and as a society, we don't have the right to repeat the mistakes of the past. We have the opportunity to right the wrongs. This pandemic may give us the chance to review our priorities. A society can't tolerate an individual in perfect physical health wanting to take their own life as a result of profound suffering related to how they see reality.
I now want to talk about your brief entitled “COVID-19 and Suicide: Potential Implications and Opportunities to Influence Trends in Canada”. You stated the following:
While history demonstrates the potential for COVID-19?and the resulting anticipated economic recession?to impact suicide rates, an increase is not inevitable.
How could we avoid the worst-case scenario? What would be the priority actions? What most urgently needs to be done, here and now, to prevent this avoidable increase from taking place?