Debates of Oct. 20th, 2022

Mental Health

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Madam Chair, my colleague has worked at the immigration committee for a long time. I was there a few years ago, and we worked together then.

That is a very good question. I certainly believe that part of the mental health transfer of that $4.5 billion over five years could go toward that kind of education and opportunity because that does put a lot of stress on people, particularly when they cannot communicate. I think the communication part is just as important as providing health workers so that people's particular circumstances can be understood.

[Leah Taylor Roy, Liberal, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

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.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Madam Chair, we know that millions of Canadians right across our country do not have access to a family doctor. Family doctors are very often the first point of contact for those who are struggling with mental health.

Does our colleague feel there is more that is needed to be done by the government and other governments, and what can be done to perhaps provide more medical professionals within our country and entice more medical professionals here so that, as our colleagues mentioned earlier, when people call for help, there is help available, and when they try to get help, there is help available.

[Leah Taylor Roy, Liberal, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Madam Chair, it is a very important first line. Most people do go to their family doctors, and there are too many Canadians who do not have access to a family doctor. We need to do more. We have to work with the College of Physicians. We have to work with the provinces.

We also need to help people who have come to this country who have qualifications to be working in this field. I agree with the member opposite who spoke about funding lay people to work in this field. Certainly, we have a lot of expertise. We also need more medical schools. I am in consultations right now with the president of York University. We are talking about building a new medical school in our area.

There is a desperate need for more doctors. I believe we can work collaboratively with the different organizations, provinces and territories to try to address this very severe need, one that is more in the north and rural areas.

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Madam Chair, one of the things I was surprised about, and I was approached by a constituent about this, was that counsellors, therapists and psychotherapists have to charge GST and taxes on their services, whereas other mental health professionals do not. This is actually a classification from CRA. It is a very simple change the government can make.

It is a drop in the bucket of what is necessary, but it would help those who are struggling to pay for some of these services. Until they are made far more available and without the idea of having to pay for them, which is also my goal, it is something that the government could do very quickly.

I have a private member's bill on that. It is Bill C-218. Would the member be open to supporting that bill?

[Leah Taylor Roy, Liberal, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Madam Chair, we need to do all we can to try to make these services more accessible for all Canadians. I will certainly look at the bill and consider it. The intent of the bill, I support, but I have not seen the language. We need to expand the number of people who can provide this help and be covered by our health system.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Madam Chair, tied to both our physical and mental health are the social determinants of health. The lack of housing and people's inability to survive because of food insecurity and so on is causing great distress. The government has promised that housing is a basic human right, yet we do not deliver the resources to ensure that it is.

Would the member support the call for the government to act in accordance with its promise that housing is a basic human right with corresponding resources to match it?

[Leah Taylor Roy, Liberal, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Madam Chair, I do believe that the social determinants of health are very important. It is why we are now providing Canadians with additional support on housing, and why we have a national housing strategy and are committing resources to it. We have to be sure that Canadians have what they need to have good health, and that includes those things.

The Canada child benefit is a major part of providing that kind of support for Canadians in terms of the social determinants of health.

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families]

Madam Chair, I am honoured to rise in the House this evening to take part in this debate on how we can work together to improve the mental health of Canadians.

Much has come up already in tonight's discussion, and I want to acknowledge that I, along with the member of Cariboo—Prince George, and many members of the all-party mental health caucus, have made a commitment, time and again, to address the serious challenges of the mental health of Canadians together.

As some in this House know, when I came into the chamber, mental health and the well-being of Canadians was one of the key issues I wanted to work collaboratively on with colleagues, because as we all know, the need has never been more urgent than it is right now.

The pandemic laid bare that decades of stigma over generations of families, friends, children, youth and loved ones struggling in silence have taken a tremendous toll and that no longer could suffering in silence be an option. While stigma has been a barrier to access for many, access to services, particularly dedicated community mental health teams, has been out of reach due to lack of resources and capacity, which is in part why we are here tonight.

I do not know a single family where mental health, mental illness and addictions have not been a part of life at some point. It is the story of so many Canadians: mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, nieces and nephews.

Like other members of this House, it is my story too. Today, my nephew would have been 23 years old, just out of university and with so many opportunities ahead of him. However, no amount of an endless lifetime of love could help him. We lost him to suicide on April 6, 2014, at the age of 15.

Suicide prevention is anchored in the dedicated community mental health teams that tirelessly fill the gaps and fight to keep their doors open every single day. On that day, my heart and my family's hearts were broken, and it was community mental health that has helped us heal.

He was brave and strong for all the right and all the wrong reasons. He fought to keep his illness out of his public life and to be a champion of all that is good. He fought against his inner anger and loneliness. He fought against himself, his fears and his anxiety, all at far too young an age for his years. While these battles raged inside him, he fought with those closest to him struggling to get him help, and the tragic war inside of him won. The system at the time, underfunded and understaffed for youth and their families, was helpless.

Between 2017 and 2019, there were approximately 4,500 deaths by suicide per year in Canada, which is the equivalent of 12 people dying by suicide every single day. The numbers have continued to rise.

My nephew, like so many Canadians, is more than a number. I know we can do more and I have hope, because we are doing more. A three-digit national suicide prevention number is one of the many steps we are taking.

Alongside these steps, the most important work we are doing is speaking to Canadians in our communities and to those with lived experience. We know the current federal suicide prevention framework of 2012 needs to be enhanced, modernized and driven by data and by our stories. It also needs to be actioned, and I am hopeful and supportive of the minister's commitment to implement the new strategy next fall.

We need an evidence-based federal suicide prevention strategy to save lives, no matter where Canadians live, in every part of this country. Our government is committed to ensuring that mental health care is treated as a full and equal part of our universal health system. The $5 billion over ten years that we have committed to for Canadians is starting to make a difference by expanding access to community-based mental health and addiction services for children and youth, and integrated services for people with complex needs.

I invite everyone in the House to do more. We can do more. We have all said that mental health is health, and it must be the guiding principle in our conversations, in our communities and in this House.

I look forward to working with all members.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Madam Chair, I want to thank my hon. colleague for her presentation tonight and the personal experience she shared with us in the House. Many of us have had similar circumstances in our families with relatives and those close to us.

There are many things I would like to ask her, but as she mentioned a 15-year-old in this case, I want to ask what she thinks we should do for the youth side of mental health, given that about one in four people impacted by mental health is under the age she mentioned and this is more than just an education process.

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Madam Chair, really, this is about youth, because when we take the space to understand where our youth are sitting in this mental health crisis, we understand that the mental health of our youth is part of a holistic approach to the mental health of our families in this country. This is why, in my many conversations with the minister and in our conversations at the all-party mental health caucus, I have a wraparound service approach in mental health where the whole family is cared for.

What is going on with our youth is going on in their homes, going on in their playgrounds and going on among their peers. We cannot get to the heart of this if we do not get to all of the members who are a part of it and start talking and working with them together.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Uqaqtittiji, I thank the member for sharing her story. It is a very important one and one that too many Nunavummiut relate to, because the youth suicide rate in Nunavut is quite high.

Having said that, I know that one of the things that seem to be most effective for addressing suicide is to make sure that youth actually realize there is nothing wrong with them, because the way that suicide prevention works is to treat people as if there is something wrong with them.

I wonder if the member agrees with me that when it comes to programming for youth, what can be more effective is to allow them to learn to express themselves in a healthy way and to help them with positive coping skills so that we are actually teaching them to withstand whatever challenges might come their way.

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Madam Chair, I had the honour and privilege of travelling through Iqaluit this summer with the member to see her work on the ground with youth and mental health in Nunavut and with young Inuk, and she is absolutely right. We should give our young people the tools to self-care and self-love, to be strong and to be proud of their heritage as indigenous youth and youth from new countries who make Canada home. If they do not feel they have a place here with the resources, hope and supports they need, whether it is peer to peer, peer to mentor or within a wraparound framework, as I mentioned previously, then we are failing them.

As my colleague said earlier, this is not a partisan issue. We all get it. We are here because we get it, and we understand that there are many pieces of the puzzle. It takes a village to raise a child, and this Canadian village really needs to step up for its youth.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Madam Chair, I thank my hon. colleague for sharing her story.

I want to give her an opportunity to elaborate a bit, given the fact that we have had a global pandemic with isolation and a lot of young people did not have the experience of graduating with their class or seeing their classmates. Has this actually increased the likelihood of seeing the supports needed for youth and mental health? Could she elaborate on that?

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, York Centre, ON]

Madam Chair, as a single mother to two teenage daughters, and one who just graduated, the answer is absolutely yes, it has had an impact on them. This is why an approach of building resiliency, communication, social skills and life skills for our young people is so crucial now more than ever.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Madam Chair, I am thankful we are having this debate tonight because one thing we have heard, time and time again, is that mental health is affecting each and every Canadian. Whether it is a family member, a co-worker, a friend or a neighbour, we must recognize this.

I will be splitting my time with the member for Battle River—Crowfoot this evening.

I remain the chair of the status of women committee, which is doing a very important study on the mental health of young women and girls. I would like to talk about some of the work that we are doing on the study, but also about some of the things I am finding out with every single member who sits on that committee. There are 11 members, one male and 10 women, and I feel like I am sitting among friends. I feel that I can talk about mental health, as we are tonight, recognizing that there are many issues.

One thing I am finding is that now is a time of camaraderie. It is a time when I am listening to people who many times I may oppose, but we are all sharing stories and that is so key for me.

I am a mom. Like so many other people here, I am a parent and we have children. We tried to get through COVID-19 as best we could, but we know the impacts on our children. When I think of me and my five children, I can say that the last two and a half years were horrible. There is another word that starts with an “h”. It was just not a good place to be.

I am not feeling sorry for members of Parliament, but we were there when people were going through a crisis. We were there when businesses were saying they had to lock their doors, when families were saying a family member was sick or a loved one passed away, and when people were separated from their loved ones because of border challenges. I think about those things.

Last week at the status of women committee, we talked a lot about how children being out of school due to COVID was the worst thing possible. The kids needed to be together. The committee talked about dopamine today with Dr. Shanker. All of the things that kids need to grow were taken away from them for two and a half years.

I hope my son is not listening to my speech tonight because I do not really like to talk about him, but he is a kid who played four sports. Whether it was volleyball, basketball, soccer, badminton, whatever he could play with a racquet or a ball, that is what he was doing. He was told that they were not playing sports anymore at his school. Not only was he not going to school, but they were not playing sports. Then they were told that they could not go to the playground to run around and throw hoops. My son was 17 at the time and that kid needed to get out.

Today at the status of women committee we talked about how kids turned to social media and played video games, which was only hiding the pain and did not fix anything at all. When kids needed it the most, they were separated from people. We know that there is going to be a long journey back.

I went through another crisis, and I am proud of it. I am proud and will never be ashamed of some of the things that happened to me and my family in the last two and a half years. I can talk about my own experience. I have turned my book over because I think it is time to just talk.

When my family was going through a crisis, three moms called me that week because they too were in crisis and they had no one to turn to. I was so fortunate because I have the most amazing family, an awesome husband, phenomenal children and friends and neighbours who surrounded me. They watched as I was going through my own turmoil, while knowing that other parents needed us as well. That is why I am telling every single person here to be there when somebody needs them, to be there when one of their colleagues is going through something, because they never know when the shoe is going to drop for them. One never knows.

In the first week of my little trauma, I really got to see that there were no services available when people really needed them. When I went through the crisis, there was nothing to help me, and when people were calling me, I was doing everything I could. We need to do more and I am urging the government to get that $4.5 billion out of the coffers, start directing it to the organizations that need it and start ramping up some of these services for our health care workers who are exhausted. They cannot be there any longer and are burning out. We need to do it now because the crisis is right at the edge, and it is only going to get worse.

[Lisa Marie Barron, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Madam Chair, I thank the member for sharing with us her personal experience of what she saw with her children and the importance of having mental health supports in place.

I am also a parent and one thing I have noticed that has been impacting the mental health of a lot of children and youth is climate anxiety, which is basically the impact of climate change and the increase in anxiety as a result. I wonder if the member could share if she is hearing that from constituents and how she feels we could best address the impact of climate change and how it impacts the mental health of youth.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Madam Chair, that is a really interesting question. We know that when children see hurricanes or floods it is very concerning. I think right now there are multiple things that are concerning children. It is not just climate change, but definitely things like the economy. There are mental health issues children are going through. I am talking to kids who are working to put food on the table with their parents. I am speaking to people who are not getting their medication because they have not done their taxes and they do not have a health benefit card and are falling behind.

There are so many things when it comes to this. Climate change is absolutely one out there, especially for our youth, and I think that we have to provide them hope for the future. Where we are right now, I am not trying say we are alarmists in a bad way, but what we have to do is look for healthy solutions that will help our children through this as well.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Madam Chair, I want to thank the member opposite for sharing her story. As the chair of the status of women committee, I am sure she has some insights for us regarding the impacts of gender-based violence on mental health. Would she like to touch on that? I know it is a huge subject, but could she share any thoughts on that?

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Madam Chair, I thank the member so much, because I was going to talk about gender-based violence as one of the biggest issues when it comes to mental health. We know that over 60% of young women and girls are victims of sexual violence and unwanted harassment right now and that it has an impact on their mental health because they have had something taken away from them. In many cases, they have been stripped of their dignity. One hundred per cent we know there is a strong correlation between that and mental health.

I would have liked to read an excerpt from the testimony of Carol Todd, Amanda Todd's mother, who was at one of our meetings, because when I look at Amanda Todd and her mother, it is right there. This is the type of work we can do for families and we need to do more.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Madam Chair, I want to thank my hon. colleague not just for her intervention today, but also for the passion she has shown since we were elected in 2015.

I know she does a lot of outreach work within her communities. There are some strong mental health organizations within her community that do incredible work on the ground. I know she is a champion of them so I want to give her an opportunity to talk about some of these incredible grassroots organizations that would benefit from the $4.5 billion that needs to flow to the provinces.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Madam Chair, the member's question has me really excited because I think of the organization #ivegotyourback911 in St. Thomas. It deals with the post-traumatic stress disorder experienced by our frontline workers. It is an absolutely incredible organization that is doing fundraising within our communities. It talks about those frontline workers needing those supports as well. Places like that are doing an excellent job.

I also think of great organizations like the London Abused Women's Centre, and a variety of other organizations, such as the Rainbow Optimist Club of Southwestern Ontario. All of these different organizations have mandates. Some are helping youth in the LGBTQ community. Some are helping our professionals who are frontline workers. All of us need to come together. This is the great work we can do.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Madam Chair, as always, it is an honour to enter into debate in this place, especially when we are talking about something as important as mental health. As we have listened to much of the discourse that has taken place over the course of the evening, we have heard the common agreement and the importance of seeing that this issue is addressed, not in a partisan way or a political way, but truly and meaningfully addressed.

As we look at the pure facts, about one-third of Canadians face some sort of mental health challenges. Literally, if we look to our left and we look to our right, it is one of the three people: the person on our left, ourselves, or the person on our right. This is the definition of something that impacts everyone. It is important that we acknowledge that mental health is health and the important distinction when it comes to addressing the specific aspects of what mental health care looks like. That needs to be at the core in the overall strategy by which we approach it from the federal perspective as we partner and work with the provinces and the municipal governments, and the many stakeholders involved.

We looked at the many implications that mental health has and the consequences when there is not early intervention and early action. We see addictions. We see suicides. We see abuse and domestic challenges and many other effects that have significant impacts on every Canadian. There are very few things that affect every Canadian, but this truly is one of them.

Between the ages of 15 and 35, the leading cause of death, tragically, is suicide. As we talk about the dynamics associated with mental health, I know we can look to family members. I have close experiences with members of my family and it is truly something that is very personal. Of course, there are the dynamics of access to things like care and there are the challenges associated with rural areas.

In this very short intervention, I want to also talk about the fact that I am proud to represent Camp Wainwright, a military base, and the dynamics associated with mental health. We look back throughout the history at things like shell shock. There was a lack of understanding around many of those issues throughout much of our country's history. When it comes to warfare in general and military service in general, we see the importance.

Now we have the opportunity to work with some veterans to try to help them navigate what can be a very complex system to get the supports that they need. Regarding PTSD or the other challenges that come along with service in the military, we note how important it is. Many of us read over the course of the summer that a veteran was offered MAID. It breaks my heart that somebody would be offered death as opposed to hope. I hope that would be a wake-up call for all of us to ensure that we are actively working toward making sure that mental health and care needed for veterans as well as for every Canadian is offered. We need to get down to the brass tacks of what we do about it.

I was pleased in the last election how each and every party had a mental health plan. Although Conservatives got more votes, we did not win the most seats, but I am glad that each party represented in this place did have a mental health plan. Certainly, I hope that when it comes to the mental health transfer we can get those details sorted out, because those dollars need to get to the provinces so that they can get the supports that are needed. There is the 988 suicide helpline, which I am so proud to be a part of with the member for Cariboo—Prince George. I am so proud to serve in a caucus where we have that advocacy.

I wish there would be more opportunity to share the other ways. I will simply wrap up by saying that this is a great conversation to have, but it has to result in action. I hope we can do that together.

[Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

Madam Chair, I have more of a comment than a question. I do not want to put the member on the spot.

One thing I have observed is that there is a lot of expertise and a lot of insight in this House, at the federal level, into the problem of mental health. I know that typically, when we have funding for health-related initiatives, provinces say they are closer to the situation, therefore they do not want any directives associated with the transfer of funding.

This is a case in which I believe there is a great deal of expertise at the federal level, and we should fine-tune our initiative and transfer of funds to make sure all aspects of this extremely complex ecosystem that is mental health receive the measure of support they need to be truly effective.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Madam Chair, part of the reason there is so much expertise represented is that there are 338 people: By the pure numbers, over 100 individuals in this House have personally experienced mental health challenges, and we all know and have walked alongside those who have as well. There is a lot of expertise, and that needs to help to make sure we can get dollars out the door.

I would just offer this. Health care in our country is provincial jurisdiction. I hope that as we discuss both the Canada mental health transfer and everything associated with the mental health action plan and everything that is needed to ensure that the supports get out the door, like 988, etc., we will not get lost in the details, but rather make sure that supports get out the door. Let us work as partners, not as dictators in saying how provinces should or should not spend dollars, but truly work collaboratively in a partnership to ensure that those supports can simply get out the door.