Thank you for that.
In your interventions with some of my other colleagues on this committee, you were talking about our really having to make sure we have resources in there so that patients can avail themselves of every option for treatment. Certainly in previous testimony, we've heard of “groundbreaking research” that's going on with psilocybin as a potential therapeutic intervention to help guide people through mental health problems. I know it's still in its infancy.
I realize that, for future patients who are accessing MAID, there will be the safeguards in place. They will have to have an extensive history. I guess my concern is that I look around in my own community and I see so many people who are living on the street in obvious mental distress. I keep wondering—if they had had early interventions, could that have prevented them from getting to a state where it became so bad that they didn't see a way of pulling out?
I know the Government of Canada has made some commitments to a big mental health strategy, but can you maybe just talk a little bit about how much more is needed to really fill in the gaps? The last two years, especially, have really highlighted this issue in many communities like mine.