Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Charlottetown.
When I was in grade 11 at Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, I was the coach of the grade 10 trivia team. Some members were young geniuses, but not really nerds in the traditional sense of the word, no more than any of the other students. They were well-adjusted, sharp, nice, good kids. I worked with them for the whole year. A year later, one of these young people, who had been full of life and potential, was dead. He had committed suicide. This was my first experience with this sad reality. To this day, I remember my reaction, my questions, my shock and confusion. Why? I asked myself what I had not seen, what we had not noticed, what his friends, peers, teachers and family had not seen. And, above all, what could we have done, what could I have said to him, how could I have helped him with his problems? We did not know and he did not talk about them.
Today, we find ourselves in a place where we can do something, where we can act to prevent all these tragedies that are happening to families and individuals every year. That is why I am so proud of our motion that calls for a national suicide prevention strategy, because, despite our individual experiences, suicide is not just a personal tragedy, but also a serious public health issue and a priority that must be included in our political discussions.
As critic for youth, post-secondary education and amateur sport, this issue strikes a chord with me. In Canada, close to 4,000 people commit suicide each year, some of them young people between the ages of 15 and 24. In this age group, suicide is the second leading cause of death and accounts for over 20% of deaths. These numbers rise considerably among the most vulnerable youth. Many of our students fall within this age group. In 2009, a survey conducted on six campuses in Ontario indicated that over 50% of students felt hopeless, one in three was depressed and could not function, and almost 10% had thought about suicide in the past 12 months. Suicide affects all of us. It is not just a health issue. It is a social issue in terms of both its causes and its solutions.
Mental illness, abuse, the loss of a loved one at a young age, a family history of suicide and difficult peer relationships are all factors that can make a person vulnerable to suicide.
Looking at the numbers, we know that every dollar invested in mental health care and addiction treatment saves our health care system and our social productivity $7 to $30. Although there are no Canadian statistics on the direct and indirect costs of suicide, a series of reports estimates that suicides and suicide attempts cost around $15 billion a year. That is a lot of money, but the human cost of suicide is even higher, particularly in terms of the emotional and psychological effects on the friends and families of suicide victims.
The problem is that Canada is worse off than other industrialized countries. We have the third-highest rate among these countries. What is worse is that among our gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, transsexual and intersexual youth, the suicide rate is more than seven times higher than in the heterosexual community.
That is why I provide so much support to groups like Gay Line, which provides advice, but also a listening ear to our young people. They are an excellent suicide prevention tool. That is also why a number of us participated in the “It Gets Better” project to show our young people that even though they feel different, they are an important part of our society and our lives. But we need to do more.
The situation is also dire among our first nations. In recent decades, the number of young aboriginals committing suicide has steadily increased.
It has come to the point where the aboriginal youth suicide rate is seven times higher than the non-aboriginal youth rate.
In July 2001 a Suicide Prevention Advisory Group was jointly established by the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations and former health minister Allan Rock. The purpose of this advisory group was to review the existing research and formulate a series of practical, doable recommendations to help stem the tide of youth suicides occurring in first nations communities across Canada.
The report recommends, for one, that Health Canada initiate and support the creation of a comprehensive national first nations mental health strategy—including mandate, policies, and programs—that integrates holistic approaches to suicides, psychiatric disorders and other critical mental, physical, emotional and spiritual problems in first nations communities. But we need to do more.
Health Canada says that the role of the Canadian government is to help Canadians maintain and improve their mental health, including preventing suicidal behaviour. Within its jurisdiction, the government works to develop and disseminate knowledge on mental health promotion and mental illness prevention; provide leadership and governance; develop social marketing campaigns; and conduct surveillance on health trends in population.
In 2007, the federal government provided funding to establish and support the Mental Health Commission of Canada to lead the development of a national mental health strategy. And it is great that the Canadian government is providing monitoring and information, and I am very pleased that it decided to invest in the Mental Health Commission of Canada. It is a major step in the right direction, but we need to do more.
I often have the opportunity to rise in this House to talk about my father's values and politics. I have also had the opportunity to stand up and talk about how proud I am of my grandfather. He was a soldier who, at the same time, served in the House of Commons. I am also very pleased and very proud to be able to rise today to talk about my mother. Among other things, she may be the only woman in Canada to have had a father, a husband and a son elected to the House of Commons. My mother has suffered from depression and bipolar disorder her entire life. She has gone through some extremely tough times and we, as her family members who love her so, have gone through these tough times with her. Nonetheless, with help, support and much love, she has pulled through and now she is doing extraordinary work across the country to destigmatize mental illness and to remind people and governments that we can do a lot to prevent and heal, and even live very productive lives, despite the mental health challenges.
Make no mistake, suicide is largely linked to victims suffering from mental illness. In fact, some form of mental illness is diagnosed in 90% of suicide victims. A Health Canada report on suicide and prevention shows that almost everyone who kills themselves suffers from a form of mental illness such as severe depression, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder or bipolar disorder. Often they are also drug addicts or alcoholics. We can help them by taking clear and concrete measures.
We must take action because we can. We need to have a national suicide strategy to reach people in need in every sector of our society. We must put our efforts into improving life for our citizens. That is what we on this side of the House sincerely believe in and we hope the government will act accordingly.
