Health Committee on April 8th, 2024

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Perfect.

I know my time is up. He's cutting me off now.

Thank you so much for coming today. This has been so useful. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Mrs. Vecchio.

This is the last round.

We will go to Ms. Fortier for five minutes.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I, too, am standing in for someone on the committee today, and what a great meeting. It's bringing me back to my three and a half pregnancies—unfortunately, I had a miscarriage. I had the help of a midwife during my pregnancies. Mental health came up constantly during all my midwife appointments. Even when I had my miscarriage, my midwife kept calling to check on me. I think you really hit the nail on the head in terms of what's important. I had my children years ago, but the fact remains that this is an issue we have to keep thinking about. Thank you for sharing your ideas and recommendations.

Something you said struck me, your recommendation for a national strategy. I did a bit of research, and I came across an article in the January 2023 edition of the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada entitled “Perinatal Mental Illness: We Need to Act Now. Together.” The authors of the article refer to a national strategy and the fact that Australia and the United Kingdom each have one. Can you tell us what a national strategy would look like, and what other countries are doing? I think that would be helpful information for the committee.

[Dr. Tina Montreuil]

Yes, the United Kingdom and Australia have adopted national policies.

In my previous life, I did a lot of psychosis work. Now, when a first psychotic episode occurs, a lot of work is done through the Access Open Minds network, for instance. It's based on an Australian model and really seeks to connect medical stakeholders and community stakeholders to create readily accessible clinics.

We've discussed a number of things today, including access to care and doctor availability. In remote areas that don't have doctors, what do you do? I won't get too into the weeds, because my answer would be too long, but we can provide the committee with information after the meeting. In short, programs like this improve access to care and connect the various stakeholders in an integrative way.

I also want to point out something we learned: it wasn't enough to just raise awareness. Awareness raising is great, but in working with people with lived experience, I learned that psycho-education and awareness campaigns on their own weren't enough. I want to tell the committee something I'm concerned about as a psychologist: we do a lot of psycho-education, but it has to be followed up by meaningful intervention and possible next steps. Someone with lived experience whom I work with said that the lack of solutions in the face of constant education campaigns was beginning to have a pernicious effect. People are being told that it's normal and that things should be fine, but that likely won't work for the 30% of people who really aren't fine. Stronger measures are needed to deal with their situations.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

I'd like to give the rest of my time to Ms. Hippman. I think she wanted to add something.

[Dr. Catriona Hippman]

Thank you so much for the question.

I think the Australian example is a good one to look to. There are similarities in terms of geographic distribution of the population, as well as the unique needs of the indigenous aboriginal populations in Australia. I think they are a really good example to learn from.

They've also done a really good job of having evaluations of the implementation of their initiatives, such as the Australian national perinatal depression initiative. They looked at the impact on hospitalizations for postpartum mental illness, and they showed a 50% reduction in psychiatric hospital admissions after they rolled out their screening and treatment pathways. That is huge.

I'm leading a research study right now with a group of lived experience advocates and advisers who have all experienced hospitalizations for postpartum mental illness in Canada. It is a really traumatic experience right now in Canada. There is no option to be co-admitted with your baby, so you will be separated. We're hoping to work towards recommendations for ways that we can do a better job of supporting people once they reach that level of need in that stepped care pathway.

It also really speaks to the value of trying to catch people early, get the foundational supports in place and ideally prevent the need to have hospitalization.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Dr. Hippman.

Colleagues, that's it for the rounds of questions. We're going to bid our witnesses goodbye, and then I have one question for you, so please don't run off.

To all of our witnesses, thank you so much for being here. The depth and breadth of the experience and credentials appearing before this committee never cease to amaze. Today's panel was a shining example of that. Thank you for being so patient in sharing your expertise with us. Be assured that it will be of significant value to us in our deliberations. If there are any matters that you wish to address to augment what you've already said, we are more than happy to receive written submissions. It will all be considered as we put together the report.

To all of you, thank you so much. You're welcome to stay, but you're free to leave.

For the rest of you, colleagues, the time has expired for the consideration of the Medicago documents that we had available for review, so we would like the direction of the committee to destroy those documents. Can we have a motion from the committee to do just that?

Is there anybody with any discussion or points of view on that?

[Marcus Powlowski, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

I move to burn them.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

If I may, I would like someone to move this motion:

That the unredacted copies of the vaccine supply contract between the Government of Canada and Medicago Inc. dated November 13, 2020, submitted to the committee in response to the motion adopted by the committee on Friday, January 19, 2024, be immediately destroyed by the clerk following the adoption of this motion.

Does anyone care to move this motion?

[Marcus Powlowski, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

I do.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Is there any discussion?

(Motion agreed to)

Is it the will of the committee to adjourn the meeting?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

The meeting is adjourned. Thank you.