44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 25, 2023 10:00AM
- Apr/25/23 6:19:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour and privilege to stand in the House of Commons on behalf of my community of Peterborough—Kawartha. It is an even bigger honour when I am able to speak to the issue which I believe is the biggest crisis facing our nation: mental health.
There is not a person in this House or watching at home who has not been impacted by mental health. According to a 2020 UNICEF report, Canada ranks 31 out of 38 in children's mental health and happiness and 35 out of 38 in teen suicide. Approximately 12 people die every single day by suicide. That is 4,500 deaths a year that we know about. Suicide rates are approximately three times higher among men compared to women. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among youth aged 15 to 34 years.
I should have put a trigger warning at the beginning of this speech in the event this bothers anyone watching, as we are talking about mental health and suicide.
Self-reported suicidal thoughts, and I would make note of the language “self-reported”, and attempts are higher for people earning lower incomes. As we know, in this cost of living crisis, financial anxiety is impacting more and more people. What used to be considered good money is barely enough today. I am not going to get into the debate on carbon tax and the Liberals' failure on cost of living. I really want to focus on what we can do today.
I have some stats that put this crisis into perspective. Incidences of suicide are higher in rural settings. Adults with mental disorders, such as major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and PTSD were more likely to report suicidal ideation. Adults who experienced pandemic-related impacts of isolation and loneliness were more at risk of suicidal thoughts.
In fact, today I met with the Retired Teachers of Ontario, who shared with me that mental health among its 83,000 members is a major concern. Many seniors do not have access to a doctor, and it is deeply impacting their mental and physical health.
Almost every single day I hear from a parent or caregiver who shares their despair, their fear, about the mental health of their child. One gentleman started to talk to me one day and he broke down in tears because his teenage son would not come out of his room. He said, “The son I had before the pandemic and the son I have now is not the same, and I am so worried for his future and his health.” One parent shared with me that she waited eight hours in an emergency room with her teenage daughter because she was having a mental health crisis.
We have not even begun to understand the impact of the pandemic on our children. Their developing brains were exposed to trauma and isolation, and it will take years to get the data to understand the full magnitude of how our children have been impacted.
I sit on the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, and we recently completed a study. The report is titled “A Step-by-Step Approach to Supporting the Mental Health of Young Women and Girls in Canada". The study brought forth many witnesses and a list of recommendations tabled with this House, some of which included education in schools, including self-regulation and empathy; mental health first aid; supports in rural and remote communities, including clinical and virtual care; access to housing; access to virtual mental health care; providing transitional services for individuals who are discharged from addictions and mental health-related hospital programs; youth who are aging out of foster care and individuals who are leaving emergency situations such as violence.
Another recommendation that came out included increased resources for health care practitioners. The reality is our frontline health care workers are suffering from compassion fatigue and burnout. As the old saying goes, the caretaker must first put on their oxygen mask if they are to help those who need it.
Dr. Rakesh Jetly was one of many witnesses who testified in the study. It was this quote that jumped out at me: “It's a year and a half wait for a psychiatrist for a teenager.... A year and a half is a lifetime at that age.”
All that information I just provided seems overwhelming and a huge task to try to change the course we are on, but we cannot give up. How does one climb a mountain? One step at a time.
For many people watching from home, this place of debate can be extremely frustrating and painfully slow. Trust me, I know how they feel.
If the member from Kingston wants to continue to talk while I do my speech, I would ask that he respectfully leave. It is rude.
Mr. Speaker, would you please address that?
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- Apr/25/23 6:24:51 p.m.
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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This topic is extremely serious. If he did not intend it to be rude, I do take that back, but this is really serious for his constituents and my constituents.
Today feels somewhat exciting—
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Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Today feels somewhat exciting because what my colleague has put forth is a simple, tangible action item that will move the needle in opening access to mental health supports. The member for Cumberland—Colchester, who also happens to be a doctor, has put forth a private member's bill, Bill C-323, An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act (mental health services).
Currently, many health services, including optometry, chiropractic, physiotherapy, foot care, acupuncture and many other services, are exempt from charging goods and services taxes. That means GST or HST depending on which province someone lives in.
However, psychotherapy and mental health counselling are not exempt, meaning the service provider must charge tax. If we remove the tax, that would work out to about every eighth appointment being free. The reality is many Canadians do not have coverage for psychotherapy and mental health counselling. This would make a difference.
This would also help alleviate the administrative stress on the providers. As I outlined earlier, these professionals are already managing an incredible workload to meet the demand. This would be a small but important step in making things more manageable.
According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, or CAMH, psychotherapy is a general term used to describe a form of treatment that is based on talking work done with a therapist. The aim is to relieve distress by discussing and expressing feelings; to help change attitudes, behaviours and habits that may be unhelpful; and to promote a more constructive and adaptive way of coping. Successful psychotherapy depends on a supportive, comfortable relationship with a trusted therapist.
Psychotherapy can be life changing for many people. It can be maintenance of one's mental health, like visiting the gym to keep one's body healthy. One of my favourite sayings is by Fred Rogers, that anything mentionable is manageable. That is exactly what psychotherapy provides: the ability to identify and name behaviours and feelings so people can better manage them.
I would love to see everyone have access to psychotherapy. This bill is a great stepping stone to making that happen, by making it more affordable and also highlighting how important and valuable this service is.
One of the biggest hurdles in accessing support is asking for help. We have come a long way in how we talk about mental health, but we have a lot farther to go. Acknowledging access to mental health counselling and psychotherapy is a healthy and credible way to take care of oneself and it is wonderful, but now we must ensure people have access when they ask for it and ensure those services are affordable.
The president of the Canadian Paediatric Society said that behavioural and psychosocial problems “serious enough to disrupt functioning and development affect approximately 1.2 million youth in Canada” and “fewer than 20%...receive appropriate treatment.” Furthermore, he told the committee that support services can be very difficult to access and that sometimes this lack of access to specialized services results in a doctor prescribing medications. We have an addiction crisis. We should not discount how much this is connected.
I want to leave everyone with a message from Dr. Stuart Shanker, another witness from the status of women committee. Dr. Shanker studies neuroscience and is a leader in teaching thousands of people about self-regulation. In his testimony, he said, “You can change every single kid's trajectory”. This goes for adults too.
The science shows it takes a lot of different ingredients, but when someone is able to access them, the results can be wonderful and life changing.
I would say to everyone at home that wherever they are in their mental health journey, it is not permanent. There are amazing resources and people to help. Their life matters and they matter.
Today, I ask every member in this House to support Bill C-323, a private member's bill which says to Canadians that this House cares about mental health, that this House recognizes the value of psychotherapy and mental health counselling, and that this House is making it a priority to make it easier to access and to make it more affordable.
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