Mr. Van Bynen, I could talk all day on mental health. I have to admit it's a particular joy and a privilege for me to be able to further mental health initiatives in my current portfolio.
Half a million Canadians miss work every week due to mental illness. This pandemic has taken a particular toll on people, I think, and, I would argue, particularly now. I think omicron and Christmas were a deadly combination for a lot of people and a lot of Canadians. Workers are people with complex lives. They have complex needs.
There are two ways in which I, as Minister of Labour, want to try to close this gap for workers. Number one is by making mental health a component of workplace health and safety, as you said. Number two is by initiating the right to disconnect.
Mental health is health. We need to consider it as such. Injuries associated with it need to be covered by occupational health and safety requirements as much as physical injuries do, because mental health is physical health as well.
By our not addressing this, the Canadian economy is losing an estimated $6 billion per year in productivity. An estimated one in three workplace disability claims in Canada is related to mental illness.
I think it was just last month that the CAMH released a report surveying Canadians about their mental health during the pandemic. The survey found a decline in mental health amongst Canadians, obviously, due to anxiety, to loneliness, and to changes in the way they were able to access care and mental health services. Some 30% reported increased alcohol consumption. Forty per cent reported increased cannabis use. Five per cent were seriously considering suicide.
One of the things we think we can do is to look at the right to disconnect. What does it mean to be at work? Why has that changed so drastically? How many times in the last two years has your home, your kitchen table or your couch been a workplace?
As Canadians right now in this pandemic, we're continuing to work remotely from home, but that line between work and home has become very blurred, and the ability and sometimes the expectation to be constantly connected can really rub people's nerves raw, as we say in Newfoundland, and people's nerves are already rubbed raw.
We in politics know this better than most, given the 24-hour news cycle and the 24-hour Twitterverse. Last week our advisory committee, which is made up of unions, federally regulated employers and NGOs, released a report on the right to disconnect. They conducted a consultation, and they are making a series of recommendations to us and ensuring that perspectives from every angle are considered. We can't afford to be myopic on any part of this.
What is clear is that establishing a positive work-life balance is an important goal for both employers and workers. It's overdue, and we're moving on it now.