I think we've moved from looking at government support for social infrastructure as charity to seeing it as justice, and maybe now we're at the point of seeing it as an investment as well. If we look at the countries that do invest in what I call the social infrastructure, they also do well economically. They have lower rates of illiteracy, etc.
I would like to talk about mental health for young people.
Brian, we mentioned to you very briefly before that we were at Metro Turning Point shelter yesterday with Michael Poworoznyk. He appeared at our committee, and then we went to have a look. They have a capacity of 75 beds, dormitory-style. There are men sleeping there. Somebody from the committee asked what percentage of his clients would have mental health issues or addictions, and there was a chart that showed 50% for mental health.
He said if you look at it, how do you diagnose these, necessarily? It's difficult to really know, but I think he said yesterday that he guessed it would be 90% to 95%, because if you didn't have those issues when you got there, after spending night after night in the same room with 60 or 70 other men, and listening to people with hallucinations and waking up in the middle of the night, you would end up with them.
On youth--and John, you mentioned this too--how do we do mental health better for young people? How do we get to the point of diagnosing it and treating it so that we don't criminalize them further down the road and have them end up dealing with Kelly and her organization or the Elizabeth Fry Society or something?
Are there any specific ideas and investments in mental health for young people so that we can make a difference?