Health committee  Yes, I believe it was very helpful. Many of our CMHAs pivoted to provide virtual services. It was hugely beneficial to people, especially seniors and people who were in lockdown and did not have access to in-person. In fact, it's been so successful across the country that our b

Health committee  We were really delighted to see Wellness Together and see the federal government make that investment. It was very important. It provides a huge selection of virtual supports, and it even includes in-person support where there are a few hours of free psychotherapy offered to peop

Health committee  Sorry, just to clarify, if the federal government...?

Health committee  No, I think most Canadians are concerned about their day-to-day lives: Do they have enough money to make ends meet? Can they see their family and friends? Can their kids go to school? A lot of these issues are provincial, in fact, and not federal. I think there is a little bit of

Health committee  There's lots of data now to suggest that virtual is very effective. Our only concern with virtual is that not everybody has access to broadband Internet, and not everyone has access to or can afford the devices that would be needed to actually take advantage of it. I'll turn to

Health committee  Yes. We were delighted that the federal government had identified, a few years ago, billions of dollars to support mental health; unfortunately, we don't really have much information about how that money was spent. We know that there is underspending on mental health, and when we

Health committee  When we spoke to our branches across the country, people talked about the fact that the demands for service had gone so high that there were waiting lists in most of the areas we were looking at. At CMHA Toronto, there was a 300% increase in demand for youth programs. At CMHA Edm

Health committee  Thank you so much. When we looked at sources of stress, we saw that 30% of Canadians were feeling worried about money, even though this was later—the findings were taken just before omicron. They were also very worried about the mental health of their children—21% mentioned chi

Health committee  Thank you so much. Hello. I'm Margaret Eaton and I'm the national CEO of the CMHA. The CMHA is the most extensive community mental health network in Canada, founded in 1918. We have 330 community locations in 10 provinces and the Yukon territory. We reach over 1.3 million people

Finance committee  Thank you so much. It's a growing imperative. We know that the provincial governments in some provinces have taken some of that federal money and it has trickled down to some of our community organizations, but the need is great. Even some of our largest CMHAs—like Waterloo Wel

Finance committee  Thank you for that. Housing is a dire issue. As you know, there's tremendous stigma against people with mental illness, which means that many of them are on disability and struggling to make ends meet, so the housing that we provide through CMHAs locally has been incredibly imp

Finance committee  We definitely understand that it has to be in partnership with the provinces if this is going to happen. We would like to see the funding itself expanded to ensure that the funding is going toward the people of highest need. We're a bit concerned that some of the plans for expa

Finance committee  We believe the most tested and studied approach as a solution for anxiety is cognitive behavioural therapy. Our local branches offer CBT training. We also have a national program called BounceBack, which is a virtual program that offers cognitive behavioural therapy. We would l

Finance committee  Thank you so much for that question. As you know, the federal government is the largest funder of health care, and that funding flows through the Canada Health Act to the provinces. We were delighted to see the creation of a transfer that would actually put a ring fence around

Finance committee  Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. Hello. My name is Margaret Eaton. I'm the national CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association, or CMHA. CMHA is the most established and most extensive community mental health organization in Canada. We were founded back in 1918 during the Spani