Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I thank the witnesses for being here. Their evidence is chilling and reminds us of the importance of working on this issue.
Ms. Todd, I have been a new mother for almost eight months. I can no longer imagine life without my daughter. So I offer you my deepest condolences.
We are also at the beginning of Mental Illness Awareness Week. It's a week that prompts us to think about what it brings and creates around us, as well as the importance of destigmatizing it and talking about it more. The witnesses have addressed this issue.
In this committee, we are also focused on solutions. My first question is for Ms. Assayag.
This morning on the radio, it was interesting to hear that we cannot work to provide more mental health services if we do not talk about funding. You made that clear. I also heard that there were projects in Quebec, but that they were on hold because of a lack of funding. In countries that operate according to different models, such as Australia, it has been proven that the more we invest in the prevention or treatment of mental illness, the more we succeed in reducing the number of people who suffer from it. It's simple math.
But how can we talk about all this without noting that mental health remains a provincial jurisdiction, in this case that of Quebec? As I said, Quebec has projects, but they are on hold because of a lack of funding. This shows the importance of investing in our health care system. What's more, as you said, the pandemic has exacerbated the problems. So we need to invest more in this area. The whole issue of health transfers is crucial.