Health committee  I can briefly speak to what we've seen in the Canadian community health survey, which are higher rates of the mental health outcomes we talked about affecting lesbian and bisexual women than heterosexual women. There is ongoing research in the United States that suggests that se

Health committee  I would start with Statistics Canada because it has several national surveys that measure health-related outcomes. I think there's already work under way, but it could broaden the consultations to understand what specific measures should be added. There need to be, as we've allud

Health committee  It's an excellent first step. Suicide prevention lines are a wonderful way to engage people who are acutely suicidal in a moment of crisis. What we need beyond that is a place to refer people once they have identified that they have a mental health need and that they're suicidal

Health committee  I'm not aware of any data. In fact, the sex now survey that I quoted is the only data source that I've found that could quantify exposure to conversion therapy, and we think that's an underestimation, because a lot of folks who are exposed to conversion therapy won't turn up in L

Health committee  Yes, absolutely. Research that was done in Vancouver led by Dr. Elizabeth Saewyc looked very carefully at school districts over the last 10 years in B.C. that implemented policies allowing for GSAs and found marked reduction in suicide ideation in those schools. So we do have evi

Health committee  I think they are life-saving and I don't think banning them should be allowed. Doing that is denying youth a resource that we know can potentially save their lives.

Health committee  I'm looking at Greg. Perhaps he'd like to answer.

Health committee  I don't have anything to add.

Health committee  Yes, absolutely. If we draw on the first principles of what we know about suicide research and mental health, we know more social supports and more social connections really matter. The reason is that if you're in a low moment when you're feeling quite down, perhaps feeling sui

Health committee  That's beyond my area of expertise, but the earlier the better.

Health committee  Absolutely, I think as we move forward we need online and offline approaches. I think that's the best way to reach the maximum number of people. I have experience working in a crisis centre, and there we found a very different type of person will reach out online for support. I t

Health committee  One research model that Greg alluded to as well is the syndemic theory. Syndemic theory suggests that the reason we see multiple health problems arise in the same population—and you mentioned substance use, but we could also talk about anxiety, or many of the other health issues

Health committee  I would agree with everything that Dr. Abramovich said. I think we need more education about providing sexual and gender-affirming care at multiple levels, so I think it can begin in the schools so people can have an early general sense of the power and the sense of self-confiden

Health committee  Yes I have, absolutely. Tristan alluded to this when he talked about the effects of intersections of multiple social positions. Since my work has mostly focused on suicide, I'll comment on one that really stands out. That is the experience of indigenous Canadians, who also exp

Health committee  I do not, and the reason is the practice itself is very hard to categorize as one of those offences that you mentioned. Very often, the practice is a little subtler in how it's initiated, but in a way, it's more pernicious because it goes on, sometimes for years, sometimes for mo