Thank you, Alistair.
You know, I didn't start out to be a clinical counsellor. I was actually studying to be an accountant when my husband was injured. Going into clinical counselling and being able to work with families and survivors, seeing how they were struggling, and then looking at what was happening in communities where these crises in mental health, homelessness and criminality were on the rise, and understanding how people were getting there, I was seeing that there was nothing to address the challenges people were facing to prevent them from going further or spiralling down. It became quite a concern for me.
I was also realizing that from province to province, and in the territories, there was not provincial representation. The little organizations that were coming together were struggling for guidance and looking to the provinces. In some of the provinces, or in the territories, as Lis has so eloquently said, those services and supports were not there.
I knew that our federal government was responsible for brain injuries with our indigenous communities and with our veterans. That's why I came to you to say that this can be the north star, where all the provinces must come together, have the conversation, look at what's working and what's not working and share the information, but be accountable and move forward with strategies that every jurisdiction can put into place to safeguard our Canadians from going further into these challenges and not having the life they deserve.