Senator Omidvar: I don’t know that. That’s why I asked the question.

What role do provincial laws play in this?

Hon. Ratna Omidvar: I wish to pose a question to Senator Plett.

Senator Plett, I wonder if you have heard of a very famous Canadian comedian called Russell Peters, one of the most well‑known Canadian comedians. He is now in Los Angeles. He has a wonderful take on violence against children in Canadian families versus immigrant families. His tagline is, “Someone’s going to get hurt real bad.” He says it in his own way. I encourage you to listen to it. It will have you in splits. He makes the point that his immigrant friends feel very envious of his non-immigrant friends because immigrant parents appear to beat up their kids more violently or more regularly than, let’s say, others.

Comedy aside, I wonder if your research has indicated any such evidence to this point.

Hon. Ratna Omidvar moved:

That the fifteenth report of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, entitled Doing What Works: Rethinking the Federal Framework for Suicide Prevention, deposited with the Clerk of the Senate on Thursday, June 8, 2023, be adopted and that, pursuant to rule 12-23(1), the Senate request a complete and detailed response from the government, with the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions being identified as minister responsible for responding to the report, in consultation with the Minister of Health.

She said: Honourable senators, I know the hour is late, but this is a really important study that shines the light on a particularly dark place — suicide. Before I give you the substance of the findings of our report, please let me take a minute to thank all the witnesses who shared their lived and living experience on suicide with us.

Stigma around suicide and mental health persists, and without discussing these topics, there is little hope for improvement. I would like, in particular, to thank our colleagues Senator Stan Kutcher and Senator Patrick Brazeau for their insight and perspectives on our study.

The Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology began its study on the Federal Framework for Suicide Prevention in September 2022, holding five meetings of testimony and hearing from 23 witnesses. The Federal Framework for Suicide Prevention was published in 2016 after a period of consultation following the adoption, in 2012, of the Federal Framework for Suicide Prevention Act.

While the framework establishes an idealistic vision of “a Canada where suicide is prevented and everyone lives with hope and resilience,” the committee heard that there has been little change to the overall Canadian suicide rate since its implementation. In fact, the overall annual rate has remained largely steady for the past two decades, fluctuating between 11 in 100,000 and 12 in 100,000.

The committee asked the question, “Where are we after seven years?” The title of our report is Doing What Works. It could easily have been called Doing What Doesn’t Work because the Federal Framework for Suicide Prevention is failing by the only metric that really counts — lives saved.

Since the framework was established, the suicide rate in Canada has not meaningfully changed. There was the slightest of decreases in 2020, which witnesses attributed to pandemic‑related supports. It has otherwise remained stubbornly steady, and we wanted to know why.

One cannot fault the framework for not having lofty ideals and aspirations, laudable language and praiseworthy goals. It aims to prevent suicide through partnership, collaboration and innovation. It aims to do so while respecting the diversity of cultures and communities that are touched by this issue. It speaks of building hope and resilience and of leveraging partnerships. All of this is, as we found, heartwarming and inspiring but ultimately ineffectual. The evidence we heard is that fine words have no effect on health outcomes for people in crisis.

The committee makes 10 recommendations, and I will not go through all 10 of them. I will simply highlight four in the hope that you will turn your attention to this report.

First, we need to go where the problem actually is. It is not in the general population but, rather, in specific sections of it, primarily men and boys who are First Nation, Métis and Inuit. Senator Brazeau was particularly compelling as a witness on this point.

Second, we need to invest in programming that works, backed by evidence that it works, not touchy-feely good ideas or best practices. Senator Kutcher has emphasized the need to review the efficacy and impact of revenue-generating programs for suicide prevention.

Third, we need to focus on means intervention, which, in simple words, means that we need to restrict easy access to those methods of suicide which may make it easier to succeed, such as installing barriers to bridges and preventing easy access to medication, et cetera.

Fourth, and significantly, we need to aggressively collect and disaggregate data to follow the evidence. In short, doing what works as opposed to spinning windmills in the air is what is important. This is about lives and saving them, and this report puts out significant recommendations which could do so, particularly in light of the fact that the Federal Framework for Suicide Prevention is due to be reviewed.

Thank you, colleagues.

Hon. Ratna Omidvar: Honourable senators, as the co-chair of the all-party group for Vladimir Kara-Murza, which I chair with former Attorney General of Canada, human rights champion and chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, Irwin Cotler, I rise today in support of Senator Dalphond’s motion to confer honorary Canadian citizenship on Vladimir Kara-Murza . Members from all parties and all groups across Parliament are members of our group, proving yet again that when a cause is compelling, we can put aside our political differences to come together and do the right thing. Thank you, Senator Dalphond, for helping us to do the right thing in this chamber.

Vladimir Kara-Murza is an opposition leader, human rights champion, former journalist and now a political prisoner in Russia. In a sham trial last year, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. This is the longest sentence given to a political dissident since Stalin’s time in Russia. Think of that, senators: the Russian regime is not going forward to democracy and progress, but is going backwards, indeed, to a dark past.

For many years, Vladimir Kara-Murza risked his life to follow his ideals and to fight for a free Russia. He was a close associate of the late Boris Nemtsov, an opposition politician, and has worked tirelessly to promote democratic reforms in Russia. He has been involved in organizing protests and advocating for political change, often risking facing significant risks and personal threats. For this, he was almost fatally poisoned twice, in 2015 and 2017, because of his advocacy work. Despite these challenges, he continues to be a prominent, loud voice for democracy and human rights in Russia.

Honourable senators, as Senator Dalphond pointed out, he was key — in fact, he was a central player — in bringing Magnitsky sanctions not just to Canada but, indeed, to the rest of the world. He has appeared numerous times in Parliament on the need for the act, and has pushed us to better hold corrupt foreign officials to account.

By bestowing honorary citizenship on Mr. Kara-Murza, we can shine a light on him, his ideals and his journey and, in addition, shine the light on the 400 other political prisoners in Russia.

I hope we can all appreciate that, in the end, only Russians themselves will free Russia. Putin fears no one more than Vladimir Kara-Murza, because he is the voice that Russians are listening to.

By bestowing honorary citizenship on him — and we have done that very seldomly, as Senator Dalphond pointed out. I think, in total, we have conferred honorary citizenship on seven people. We have revoked the citizenship in this chamber of Aung San Suu Kyi, but we have been responsible and acted in bestowing the highest of Canadian honours — because this is not a real citizenship, it is an honorary one — on those who represent our ideals in many ways. It would also help Mr. Kara-Murza, who is in very poor health, to know that he is not alone, that he is cared for in other parts of world and that his actions and bravery are not in vain.

I will close by quoting Vladimir Kara-Murza himself who says: “The night, as you know, is darkest just before the light.” I believe that, by bestowing honorary citizenship, we can provide that light to him and his colleagues in prison in these dark times — for him, for his family and for the citizens of Russia oppressed by this regime. Thank you, colleagues.

[Translation]