Mr. Speaker, the goal of Mental Health Week 2003, running from May 5 to 11, is to raise awareness of the need to reduce the shame and social isolation that are all too often associated with mental illness.
I take this opportunity to salute the excellent work of the Montreal foundation known as Les Impatients, which is primarily a self-expression centre with workshops open to people who have, or have had, psychiatric problems, to enable them to experiment with various forms of art.
It is also an interpretation centre for therapeutic art and outsider art that permits any interested person to experience the creations of workshop participants, through exhibits, and to be better informed about mental health issues, through lectures, roundtable discussions and seminars.
There are some 150 regular participants at the three Les Impatients locations in Montreal. About 50 volunteers support the foundation in the pursuit of its goals.
Long live the foundation and bravo to all the workshop participants.