Health committee  Yes, absolutely. Of course, suicide in particular and other mental health topics as well are stigmatized for everyone. There is a reluctance to open up. There is a reluctance to confront it head-on. You might imagine that for folks like sexual and gender minorities who have a history of feeling the need to hide, conceal or withhold, you have a double layer of stigma.

Health committee  Yes. The way to deal with that is to have that training led by organizations with strong histories of doing good work with queer communities. You're right, though. We need both approaches. It won't reach everyone, so we need a general suicide prevention approach—a universal prevention strategy and a targeted strategy.

Health committee  That's correct.

Health committee  Yes, that happens in some cases.

Health committee  I think the most typical scenario would be a minor who's living under guardianship. Their parent or guardian might be concerned when their child expresses a form of distress or starts questioning their gender or their sexuality. At that point you might imagine—given what we've talked about—that a parent who feels unaware or maybe unconnected to resources like Pflag, or a parent who feels unsure of whether their child can have a happy, healthy life as an out LGBTQ2S person might feel drawn toward one of these programs that falsely promises a different way forward in the form of conversion.

Health committee  Yes. The countries I am aware of that have done this are Malta and Taiwan. The risk in leaving it to provinces to regulate for the health care provider communities is that it pushes this practice into settings that are outside of medical practices. It could be in individuals' homes, in community organizations or in faith-based organizations, and in those contexts, yes, I think an addition to the Criminal Code is required.

Health committee  To be honest, I'm not prepared to answer that, but I would say that there are organizations and individuals in Canada working directly with survivors of conversion therapy, most notably including Generous Space, which is a national organization based here in Ontario. They would be able to better describe the severity of the impacts.

Health committee  That's a great question. Historically, mental health professionals, including psychologists and psychiatrists, practised versions of conversion therapy. Homosexuality was, up until the late 1960s, considered a mental illness. There are some roots of it in the mental health profession, but since that time we've seen a dramatic shift in all of the major bodies of psychologists and psychiatrists saying not only is homosexuality not a mental illness, but there is actually a way forward if we offer sexual and gender minority-affirming counselling approaches.

Health committee  Mr. Chair and members of the standing committee, it is a privilege to address you this afternoon. My name is Travis Salway and I'm an epidemiologist and a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of British Columbia, where I study how stigma and stress affect the health of sexual minorities.