Mr. Speaker, schizophrenia is a devastating illness which has severe mental, physical and emotional consequences not only for those who suffer but for their families, friends and for society in general. Their suffering is made worse by the social stigma which sadly still attaches to people with mental illness. Approximately one out of one hundred Canadians will suffer from this disease in their lifetime.
Because schizophrenia often causes a lifetime of mental and physical health problems, the treatment costs to society are exorbitant, and because schizophrenics tend to have poor employment prospects, decades of productivity are lost for each patient, which just adds to the very high costs borne by society.
Schizophrenia causes acute suffering, increased homelessness and chronic unemployment. It is essential that more resources be allocated to research so that a cure may be found for this terrible disease.