I'm sorry about that.
I was going to say that one of the premises when we provide services or we study women's health is the fact that health has a social basis.
When it comes to health, the social basis must really be taken into account. For example, we know that the life expectancy of people in a rich neighbourhood of Montreal can be 11 years longer than that of people in a poor neighbourhood in the same city. Regardless of individual differences, in order to have an effect on health, we really need to act on the social determinants.
The second element we want to mention before going any further is that mental health is inseparable from physical or spiritual health. They must be taken as a whole. I challenge you to give me an example of physical health that does not have a mental or spiritual effect, or vice versa. Research in neurology over the last 40 years and in quantum physics have provided ample evidence of this. To have an effect on mental health, you also have to address things that have a physical or spiritual impact.
I'm going to talk mainly about distress and anxiety and their impact on women's health.
As you know, the two major determinants of women's health are violence and economic insecurity. You know the statistics as well as I do, and we are aware of the committee's work on violence, so I won't go into detail on that. I will say, however, that it is impossible to work on mental health without tackling these two models head on.
In Quebec, the health and social services system is unfortunately in disarray. After deteriorating for more than 40 years, it has shrunk dramatically, making access to services extremely difficult. There are waiting lists of several years for mental health care. The lack of services is to blame for dramatic cases like that of Amélie Champagne, a young girl who recently committed suicide despite numerous calls for help and several attempts. There are hundreds of cases. As you know, the pandemic has exacerbated social inequalities in health between men and women.
Alcohol and drug addiction, junk food, drug abuse, cyber-violence, difficulties in reconciling work and family, eco-anxiety, a feeling that one's future is bleak: this is unfortunately the daily lot of many girls and young women, who are sometimes marginalized as well.
We would also like to highlight a physical factor that seems to be far removed from mental health, but which has a huge effect on it: endocrine disruptors, which are chemicals that mimic the action of estrogen and hormones. These disruptors have a huge impact on the health of girls and women, from puberty and fertility to ovarian cancers and menopausal stages. I could go on for hours on this topic.
A bill to amend the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, which should have been in place for 50 years, is currently at first reading. We ask that you ensure that this legislation includes a gender-based analysis, as the environmental effects are terrible for women. Endocrine disruptors have a direct effect on their mental health.
In terms of our recommendations, we're asking you to act on three fronts.
First of all, you must act in the area of prevention. In other words, violence must be eliminated as much as possible at the source, as you are well aware. You really must ensure that no one in Canada and Quebec lives with insecurity. I'm thinking in particular of providing housing, or flexibility regarding the guaranteed minimum income. I'm also thinking of telecommunications regulation, in the case of cyber-violence. We must also offer programs in schools to try to detect these various problems as early as possible and break the isolation of women.
The second area of intervention—