Health Committee on Nov. 27th, 2023

[Shannon Hurley]

I could add more.

From the point of view of, again, the mental health promotion work at the Public Health Agency of Canada, we are administering some funding that was provided in budget 2021 to address the mental health impacts of the pandemic. That included funding to address PTSD and trauma in service providers, including health care workers as well as public safety personnel and other people on the front lines during the pandemic.

Those projects are doing things like peer support, training for resiliency, trauma-informed practice and reducing stigma. We do hope they'll have a lasting impact and leave a legacy of some knowledge and resources that will help address some of those issues.

[Jenica Atwin, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

Thank you very much.

With my remaining time, Dr. Kaida, you mentioned health hubs. I think you mentioned there would be five across the country. As a proud Atlantic Canadian, I'm wondering if there's one in the Atlantic region. What can we expect as far as projects or initiatives that will be undertaken?

[Dr. Angela Kaida]

Thank you so much for this question.

There are 10 health hubs across the country. There isn't one specifically located in your province. However, what was very critical for us as the funder was to ensure that whomever was funded had national networks across the country. These are virtual hubs. They're not bricks and mortar. Perhaps the principal investigator is not located in your province, but there will be researchers, people with lived and living experience, community advocates, leaders, etc., who are based in your province.

I'm happy to provide the specific details of the folks who are involved, but that has certainly been a priority for us as an initiative, making the most of the fact that we obviously have diverse priorities over the provinces, but we have expertise from coast to coast to coast.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Dr. Kaida.

Next we have Mrs. Roberts, please, for five minutes.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm going to address my question to Mark. In Toronto, 75% of women have experienced violence on our transit system. When they get arrested, I know we provide education when they go to jail. What is the percentage of women receiving that same type of attention as opposed to the men?

[Mark Nafekh]

I don't have those numbers available to me at this point. That's something I would have to bring back.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Okay. That would be great.

Women are being attacked more than men—let's be honest. It's important, as a mental health issue, that we provide them with the proper mental health care they require.

I, personally, in my previous life—I was a branch manager—was robbed five times and shot at once. I appreciated the counselling. I'm blessed that I have a thick skin. I don't know, but maybe that's the Italian in me. It's important that we address that. I always find when I talk to constituents that.... I've spoken to a few women who said, “When you report it and when it comes out, you're asked what you did to provoke it. What were you wearing? What were you doing?” That's an issue that I think we have to get our heads around.

Women are women. Men are men. We provide them the tools they need while they're incarcerated to make sure they don't go out and reoffend. What guarantees do we have for the women who have been subject to these offenses, and how can we protect them better?

[Mark Nafekh]

My corrections background seems to be calling me back a little bit here, but I would like to give the opportunity to any of my colleagues on this panel who have more of an expertise in violence and mental health.

[Shannon Hurley]

I can just really confirm how important it is, as you say, that the people providing services and supports to people who have experienced violence understand how violence can affect people. That's being trauma-informed. It's not asking, “What did you do? What were you wearing? Why did you let him to do that to you?”

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

That's right.

[Shannon Hurley]

Some of the work that we're doing is in fact aiming to educate and equip service providers. That's health care workers and social service providers, but others too—teachers, coaches. In fact, all of us should be trauma-informed, and we shouldn't need to know whether you were shot at. I'm so sorry to hear that happened, but we shouldn't need to know. We should use safe approaches with everyone, and that's part of the work that we're doing to educate, not just to stop the violence but also to make sure that people are getting appropriate care from service providers.

You raise a really good point.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

We continuously talk about the fact that women are more susceptible to violence than men. It is our responsibility to make sure that we educate our children, especially our male children, on respect for women. I know, being part of the status of women committee, that it is something that we definitely spoke about.

We recently had the gymnastics review, where the CEO—I questioned him personally—said that there were over 600 women who reported violence and nothing was done. When I asked him if his children had been in the same situation, where they came home and said, “This is what happened to me”, he would have launched an investigation, his response was yes.

We have to make sure that men understand that women are just as important, and we need to provide that service to them so that they can move on with their lives, because sometimes, if you don't, it sets them back and some don't recover.

As parliamentarians, we have to make sure that people understand the importance of mental health in violence against women. Would you agree?

[Shannon Hurley]

Absolutely. It's so fundamental. Experiencing violence, particularly in a relationship with your spouse, your dating partner or your parent, where it can be repeated or ongoing, can have.... The more it goes on, the longer lasting the impact can be on physical health and certainly on mental health.

Absolutely, to be able to go on and have healthy relationships later in life, we need to be able to prevent the violence and also to support those who have been affected by it.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

I'm not sure if you know Bill S-205 that we're working on right now, sponsored by one of the senators who lost a daughter to the same situation. Hopefully we can make a difference in this Parliament to ensure that this never happens again with the electronic monitoring system, because it's a tragedy that we have no opportunity to protect the women we should be protecting.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Mrs. Roberts.

Next we have Ms. Sidhu, please, for five minutes.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My question is about ovarian cancer. We know that early detection is the key and, if we detect it early, the survival rate is high. I know my colleagues have already talked about ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer is the fifth-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the western world. One in four women on first-line treatment chemotherapy don't respond.

What measure is being taken on the research side so that we can find some kind of treatment that ovarian cancer will respond to? What research can be done?

The other question is related to that. In the 10 women health hubs, are we giving education and awareness in those hubs?

These are the two questions I have. The first, I think, Dr. Clifford, you can respond to.

[Dr. Tammy Clifford]

Maybe I'll start off and then I'll turn it over to Dr. Kaida.

I agree with you that those statistics around one in four women not responding to the first-line treatment certainly underscores the importance of our finding other treatments.

I don't have it handy right now, but I will go back and take a look at what we have funded in this domain to see whether there may be some early studies that are showing some promising treatments and maybe what will go on after that. That's on me to follow up and ensure that I provide you and the committee with that information.

Maybe, Dr. Kaida, the question specifically around the hubs is for you.

[Dr. Angela Kaida]

Thank you, Dr. Clifford.

Thank you for that question.

I think your question was, are education and knowledge exchange important components of the hubs in terms of an objective? It is an explicit objective of the funded hubs. The idea and the need for the hubs really speaks to the fact that sometimes we have research evidence and we have scientific findings, but those findings are not being mobilized or translated to the communities, patients, families and individuals who need that information and can use that information to improve their own health.

One of the first objectives of these hubs specifically is to—and I'll read it to be accurate—“mobilize and scale-up newly generated and existing knowledge and models of care”. The audiences for that knowledge include patients, providers, policy-makers and the general public, who deserve to know what we're finding in our scientific research in women's health.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Dr. Kaida. My next question is for PHAC.

Women with diabetes in pregnancy continue to have poor pregnancy outcomes compared with women who don't have diabetes. What efforts are being taken to respond to this through the national framework for diabetes?

What are the efforts to collect data on gestational diabetes, which is impacting women?

[Annie Comtois]

Thank you for your question.

I also want to thank you for your bill that led us to the development of the diabetes framework in Canada.

Specifically for data, we have some systems with which we collect information. I don't have the information about gestational diabetes, so I will have to get back to you and the committee on that.

With regard to pregnant women, you may be aware that last year the Public Health Agency launched a type 2 diabetes challenge in collaboration with the Privy Council Office. One project, which was a semi-finalist, is specifically an indigenous project that addresses young mothers. It's called 39 moons. It's an indigenous project that will focus specifically on young mothers and educating them about healthy eating and healthy behaviour to help prevent diabetes for them and also their children.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you.

For my last question, we know that virtual and remote care is one of the many important tools that assist patients. What perspective can you give us on using virtual and remote health care when it comes to women's health?

Anyone can answer that.

[Suki Wong]

I'll take the question.

The issue of women facing a need for access is especially acute in remote areas, so thank you for that question.

One tool we have to help women in remote areas would be the Wellness Together Canada tool, where we do have 24-7 access to not just counselling but also stepped care, self-assessment and peer discussions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you very much, Ms. Sidhu.

Ms. Larouche, you have two and half minutes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you, Chair.

My next question is for Ms. Moriarty or Ms. Hurley.

I’m vice-chair of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. As others have mentioned, in March 2023 that committee held a study on the mental health of young women and girls. The recommendations included funding for community organizations and health services. We met with Véronique Couture, who works at a transitional mental health shelter in Granby. She told us that in Quebec, the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux, which funds social services in the province, was willing to fund community organizations like this shelter, which has a different approach, but that it lacked financial resources for certain projects.

We hear that often. How important is it to increase health transfers to give a financial boost to systems in Quebec and the provinces, which would enable us to work more effectively on the issue of mental health and many other things?

[Cindy Moriarty]

Thank you for the question. As Ms. Wong is our mental health expert, I will turn to her for an answer.

Suki, can you take this?