National Defence committee  What did I do to you to deserve that question?

National Defence committee  I come from the consumer-patient-family community. I work closely with the Mental Health Commission of Canada and the institute, so it may well be better to ask them. I can tell you that the military does not come to patient organizations that are, in our case, experts in peer

National Defence committee  I was just reminded by our project manager that in fact the Mood Disorders Society of Canada and CDRIN generally are working with DND and Veterans Affairs on PTSD. DND has opened its vaults of video and information that will inform the work we are doing. I should have reference

National Defence committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members. We certainly appreciate the opportunity to have the time we do today to present to you some issues that I think are worthy of your indulgence. With that I'll give you a very brief background on the Mood Disorders Society of Canada. We're a virtu

Health committee  Perhaps I could just make a very quick comment. Canadians fund $700 million, $800 million, $900 million of research through CIHR. Very, very little of it goes to clinical trials, very little of it. Most of it is basic, although we're trying to move them forward. The vast majori

Health committee  The cynic in me tells me the reason there's overlap—it's been created by some very intelligent deputy ministers and others—is to save initial money in the provincial health care budgets. The longer you can delay an approval, the less likely you are to have to pay for the drug. Th

Health committee  Yes. Some 4,000 Canadians a year kill themselves, and we don't care. That's roughly 150--I forget; I did the calculation last week--Boeing 747s crashing, and that's just suicides. Our jails are full of people with mental illnesses. Far more people are in jails than are in hospita

Health committee  I just have a couple of quick comments. With regard to terminality of mental illnesses, Mood Disorders Canada has a website that counts suicides. To date, since the turn of the century, 30,000 Canadians have committed suicide, all of whom, or a vast majority of whom, have been i

Health committee  In many cases, we don't have access to the drugs that our community has in other countries. I can't tell you why that is, other than that it's probably a combination of the CDR process and the lack of will in the provincial formularies to fund the availability of these medication

Health committee  We know that in a number of countries effective medications for mental illnesses are available, and they're certainly not available in Canada. We know that throughout Canada there's no consistent policy. Quebec, as you may know, is the leader in terms of making available medicati

Health committee  Thank you. My sense is that the expertise should be as broad as possible. I limit my comments to mental illnesses, but mental illnesses are so pervasive that I think the need for expertise is apparent to anyone, other than the people who appoint people to CEDAC. I think the rea

Health committee  Thank you for the opportunity to present today. I know it has been difficult squeezing everyone in. I appreciate the effort that you and the staff made, and I appreciate the opportunity to be here today. Members of the committee, Mr. Parliamentary Secretary, and others, first I

Environment committee  Why am I first?

Environment committee  That's exciting. Thank you, Chair, for the opportunity to be here. My apologies to all of you for not having the opportunity to submit a brief. The Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health and the entire mental health community have been involved in the advocacy f