Madam Chair, as many of my colleagues have said, five minutes is far too little to speak to this issue, but it is a privilege to be here in the House this evening representing the riding of Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill to speak in this take-note debate. Before I begin my comments, I would like to inform the Chair that I will be sharing my time with the member for York Centre.
I am a new member of Parliament, so I was somewhat astounded when I heard people say that this is the first debate we have had in the House on mental health. It is such an important issue, and as a member opposite said, we are far beyond talking about whether mental health is health. We all agree it is, and we know it is an urgent issue. I appreciate the vulnerability and the candour of everyone sharing their personal experiences.
I too have lived experience with mental health challenges in my family, and I know the effects they can have on people leading to a serious disease. There is such a range when we talk about mental health. We talk about mental health and mental illness, but while talking about severe mental illness and talking about trauma, whether for veterans or those living with abuse, these all have different manifestations, so I think just saying “mental health” sometimes does not really do it justice, because it would be like, in other areas of health, just talking about cancer. There are so many types, so many treatments and so many needs.
I agree with all I have heard this evening on the urgent need for more support and more funding, but I would also like to say I am very proud to be part of a government that has the first Minister of Mental Health and Addictions. We have made considerable commitments in this area. We have already spent over $5 billion on new bilateral agreements. In addition, during the pandemic, we had support for organizations that were providing mental health, and one area I would like to talk about is women and mental health, because COVID was often called a “she-cession”. I think it affected women in many ways, and one of them was women's mental health.
In my riding of Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, there are organizations that have done such great work helping women to cope with mental health crises, and as we know, the health crises and health challenges women are facing affect the entire family, in particular children. The work the Women's Centre of York Region has done, along with that done by the Yellow Brick House and the Sandgate shelter, has been so important for supporting women during this pandemic.
Also, the CMHA in our area is working with women, but it is also developing one of the first mental health crisis hubs in our area, and this is an innovative hub that will be an alternative to emergency rooms for families and will connect families and individuals with the supports that are available in the region. This is so important, because as we know that immediate help is often needed.
I believe our government has committed $4.5 billion in continued health support for mental health, and we have a responsibility to ensure that this money is used effectively and efficiently, and that there is transparency, so we are continuing to work with the partners, territories and provinces to ensure that there is clear and transparent reporting and that there are standards that we will all work together and collaborate on to address this mental health crisis.
It is really amazing to hear all of us here agreeing that there is a need for this kind of support, and I think that we can all work together to move this forward and to ensure these needs are taken care of urgently, so the people out there who need the help can receive it.