Thank you very much.
Good afternoon and thank you for giving us the opportunity to express our views on a very critical issue facing Canadians.
As you have heard, I'm the president and CEO of the University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, but I'm also the scientific director for the Canadian Depression Research Intervention Network, called CDRIN. The conceptual framework for CDRIN, as a pan-Canadian network, was transitioned into a real entity with the infusion of $5.2 million by the federal government in the previous budget, as Dr. Upshall mentioned. The mission of CDRIN, as endorsed by the government, is to focus on depression, but also on related issues that include post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide.
We are in the process of building this network, with the close collaboration with the Mental Health Commission of Canada and the Mood Disorders Society of Canada. We will bring the best minds together from coast to coast to coast.
Excellence in research is really what's going to take us to the next step. We have already enrolled over 150 of the brightest minds into this network. By working together collaboratively, rather than competitively, we hope to transform how we prevent, how we detect, and how we treat mental illnesses. Through the network approach, we hope to make major advances brought to the field as they have done through a network approach for cancer and cardiac health.
We would like to recommend that the CDRIN serve the Government of Canada and the Department of National Defence to help find research-informed solutions for post-traumatic stress disorder, suicide prevention, and depression.
We would also like to recommend that more attention be focused on understanding brain circuits contributing to mental illness. As you may have heard, the Obama government has recently launched a major approach on this front, a major assault, and has declared the brain as the next frontier. We are all part of the same wave and we need to be doing what's essential for Canadians.
We would like to recommend also that more attention be paid to sleep disturbances, that are so tightly associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. For a full recovery, if you're not able to address those issues, it's very difficult.
Finally, we would like to recommend that the government consider establishing research chairs as a way to bridge the military and the armed uniform services with civilian research enterprises. This is one way we can enhance the collaborative effort to really solve the problem that is not just facing the people in uniform but, really, facing the country at large.
I'm going to stop there and would be happy to answer any questions that you may have.
Thank you.