So V ote

Feb/13/23 6:08:49 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-39

Madam Speaker, I think we are saying the same thing repeatedly here. The experts have weighed in and said that we cannot, with certainty, scientifically predict whether or not someone will or will not recover from a mental illness. If the member wants to take that risk, and risk playing Russian roulette, I guess that is his answer, but the data is already there, which we have seen repeatedly.

69 words

All Topics

Feb/13/23 6:07:16 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-39

Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague has such a wealth of knowledge and facts on this legislation. Unlike the Liberals, he has done the due diligence. That is the reality. The facts speak for themselves. At the special joint committee, there were numerous hours spent on this, and it was all done backward. Therefore, I absolutely agree with him and thank him so much for his intervention and his work on this file.

72 words

All Topics

Feb/13/23 6:05:11 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-39

Madam Speaker, no, they have to invest in what gives people hope. There is no research. The experts and the special joint committee have done the research. This is window dressing. This is an arbitrary timeline for something that is dangerous. There is no proof. There is no science. They cannot say with certainty whether somebody with mental illness will or will not get better. Absolutely, we need to invest. There was $4.5 billion promised by the Liberal government to invest in the Canada mental health transfers. Not one dime has been sent. What are the Liberals saying to people at home who are struggling? They are saying that they care about them, but they are not going to invest in access to treatment. They are going to invest in legislation that allows them to apply for MAID. It is wrong.

142 words

Ms. Michelle Ferreri (Peterborough—Kawartha, CPC)

Feb/13/23 5:55:18 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-39

Madam Speaker, as always, it is a true honour and privilege to stand here in the House of Commons to represent my beautiful community of Peterborough—Kawartha. Today we are debating Bill C-39, an act to amend the Criminal Code in terms of medical assistance in dying, which I will refer to as MAID for the remainder of this speech, and extend the exclusion of persons living with mental illness from being eligible to receive MAID beyond March 17, 2023. We are going to need to rewind a bit to paint a picture of how disturbing this legislation, conversation and ideology are. In December of 2021, without any consultation, study or discussion, the Senate added an amendment to Bill C-7 to make people with mental illness eligible for MAID. This is gravely concerning and indicative of the Liberal government's recklessness to add such a serious amendment, which targets the most vulnerable, without due diligence of study and consultation with experts. Instead of recognizing the undemocratic and dangerous way the amendment was added and scrapping the entire thing, which should have been what happened, the Liberals' proposal is simply to extend the deadline with an arbitrary date. The MAID special joint committee was created after the amendment was added. How backward is that? The committee heard testimony from many experts, including Dr. John Maher, clinical psychiatrist and medical ethicist, who said, “Psychiatrists don't know and can't know who will get better and live decades of good life. Brain diseases are not liver diseases.” Of course, today I will support this bill, but let us call it what it is, which is window dressing for a much bigger ideological problem. We do not need to extend the timeline of this bill; we need to get rid of making those with mental illness eligible for MAID. We need to call out the Liberals for not providing a dime of their promised $4.5 billion to the Canada mental health transfer. We need to ensure people at home watching know we are working diligently to give them timely access to treatment and recovery when they are willing to get it. That is what we need to be doing. I urge every member in this House to listen to their constituents and recognize how dangerous the message is that we are sending to those struggling. I encourage every member in this House to support Bill C-314, which was introduced last Friday by my colleague from Abbotsford and would solve this problem instead of prolonging and dragging out an amendment that should never have been put there in the first place. It is difficult, if not impossible, in the case of mental illness to determine whether someone can recover, get better or get healthy. Therefore, one can appreciate how dangerous a bill like this is. I am going to read into the record a letter that was recently sent to me. It reads: “Dear Michelle Ferreri, “My name is Kayla. I am going to be sending this letter to several MPs, but as you are the MP presiding over the constituency where I reside, I thought I should send this to you first. I am very troubled by something that is going to be happening very soon in this country, and I hope you will listen to what I have to say. “Overall, I am a very healthy individual. I have a mental health condition, but it is my sole medical condition. However, I was mortified to discover last month, that medical assistance in dying (MAID for short) will be available to people whose sole health condition is a mental health condition as of March 17, 2023. “Persons who suffer from mental health conditions suffer horribly. I know that. I have suffered with mine for nearly 12 years. Perhaps the most appalling things of all are that ‘The law no longer requires a person's natural death to be reasonably foreseeable as an eligibility criterion for MAID,’ (Government of Canada, 2021) and ‘There is no obligation for a person or their health care practitioners to inform family members if that person has requested or received MAiD.’ (CAMH, 2022). “I think you are an intelligent person, Michelle. I think you see this for what it is. As of March 17, 2023, I will be eligible to end my own life on the basis that I have an incurable mental illness. Let me give you a bit more background: I have two university degrees, in biology and environmental science. I have a job that I love and have held since a little while after I graduated. I have never failed to pay taxes, nor have I ever taken extended leave or gone on EI due to my mental illness, no matter how hard it gets. I have family and friends that I love dearly, and they love me too. And yet now my own government has deemed my life not worth living. This just isn't unfair. This is monstrous. “But it gets worse. What about those people who are in the same boat that I am medically, but are much, much worse off. They cannot pay their taxes because they cannot work. They have a substance addiction. They are veterans with PTSD. They are homeless because they cannot seem to fight off their demons. These are some of the most vulnerable people in our society. To say nothing of the nature of the 'mature minors' (whatever on Earth that means) that will be able to access MAiD in the future if this doesn't stop. “Make no mistake. This thing that we dress up with a nice name 'MAiD' is euthanasia of our most vulnerable people because they cannot 'contribute to society' like others can. The fact that the government would offer to get them out of the way (read: convince them that they should die) in this way, just because the systems that the government put in place are failing them is an unspeakable evil. “I hope, Michelle, that you will do everything in your power as an MP, as I will do everything in my power as a citizen, to abolish this law. I understand the federal government is seeking to push back the timing of this law, likely because it has received so much criticism. I understand that it likely wasn't you that made any of the decisions for this law to go ahead. But I also understand that you are in more of a position to do something about it than many other people are. I hope you will respond after reading this letter. “Sincerely, “Kayla.” I did talk to Kayla, and it was a heartbreaking conversation. She is living very well, and I would like to give Kayla a round of applause for being so brave as to share that. This letter says everything Canadians need to hear. We need to be sending a message of hope and recovery, not a message that their life does not matter. I leave members with one final story. Elyse is a young university student and she chatted with me during the Christmas break. She said she needed to tell me something. She said she was so worried about this legislation to extend MAID to those with mental illness. She said that she had struggled with mental illness and knew with certainty that if someone had offered that to her during her times of illness, she would not be here today. She told me that she would not be getting her university degree; would not be in a happy, healthy relationship; and would not know that her life is worth living. We have a duty in the House to bring hope and create legislation that provides a better life for Canadians. A better life means access to help when they need it. I urge every MP in the House to listen to the experts and Canadians, and not just extend an arbitrary deadline, but drop this dangerous and reckless legislation. To everyone at home watching, including families who are supporting those with mental illness and those who are living with mental illness, we see them. They are worth fighting for, and their lives are worth it.

1395 words

All Topics

Ms. Michelle Ferreri (Peterborough—Kawartha, CPC)

Feb/13/23 4:08:08 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-39

Madam Speaker, I really appreciate my hon. colleague's perspective. I heard a lot about the intention, and sometimes we have intention versus impact, so I am curious what he thinks the impact would be of just extending the deadline, as opposed to actually throwing out the legislation or supporting Bill C-314.

53 words

Context: House Hansard - 143 - Dec/7/22

Context: House Hansard - 127 - Nov/15/22

Dec/7/22 9:09:20 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, I have been a very big proponent of mental health. First nations have experienced this very differently from everyone else and they know this first-hand. The short answer to that question is there is a mental health transfer that is in the works. The sum of $4.5 billion was promised by the Liberal government for a mental health transfer, in particular for indigenous treatment and recovery. It is going to be different so we need to look at that. There is a lot that we can be doing in terms of treatment and recovery and helping the trauma that is a result of a lot of past governments and a lot uneducated people, basically, would be the short answer to that. I would love to see the $4.5 billion of mental health transfer help people who are suffering.

143 words

All Topics

Ms. Michelle Ferreri (Peterborough—Kawartha, CPC)

Nov/15/22 12:42:41 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-32

Mr. Speaker, I really enjoy working with my hon. colleague on the status of women committee. My question is on a lot of what she spoke about and what we work for at the status of women committee in particular. In the fall economic statement, the words “mental health” were only mentioned three times. The Liberal government continues to say that it cares, but its actions show the complete opposite. It continues to solve problems with the problem of inflationary spending. I am curious to know her thoughts on that aspect of the fall economic statement.

98 words

Oct/20/22 8:51:11 p.m.
Watch

Madam Chair, I love that question from my hon. colleague, because it is about action and accountability, which is what we are really missing here, and that part of leadership. When we talk about self-regulation, this is one of the many tools we could be building into a national framework to educate parents, caregivers, coaches, teachers and frontline workers, who are all burnt out. Every one of our frontline workers and service providers are completely burnt out. They are supposed to be the calm provider of counsel, and they cannot do that because they themselves cannot regulate. Under the work of Dr. Stuart Shanker, which we have learned about in the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, we know self-regulation is a very effective tool that would be used to teach and help long term. It is a sustainable model that will change how we all manage stress and it is an excellent tool. We need to start practising action.

163 words

Oct/20/22 8:50:17 p.m.
Watch

Madam Chair, my hon. colleague has done so much work, and we definitely share similarities in how we feel about this. There is a lack of political will. There is too much virtue signalling. He is absolutely right. There is an opportunity to do it and it is not being done. If we do not take care of our children, what are we saying to our country? I really agree fully with what my hon. colleague said.

77 words

All Topics

Oct/20/22 8:48:36 p.m.
Watch

Madam Chair, what we do on this side of the House is make sure money is spent well. We know where money should go. When we have an app that should have cost less than $250,000 and it cost $54 million and the government does not even know where it is, that is what we are talking about when we talk about fiscal constraint. There is so much wasted money, and money is a sliver of the piece of the pie. One needs political will, a strategy and a plan. It is absolutely insulting for the member to say that when there is so much wasteful spending. That is not what we are talking about. There is a promised budget of $4.5 billion from the Liberal government and we have not seen it.

135 words

All Topics

Oct/20/22 8:44:19 p.m.
Watch

Madam Chair, we cannot use names. I appreciate that. My frustration lies in that, if the Prime Minister is not able to do more, then who is? Who is able to do more, if at the highest level of our federal government, we cannot do more? There are two things that a leader needs to do: listen and act. There have been countless people coming here to committees. For years and decades, people have been telling us, parliamentarians, what is wrong. Why are we not listening? Why are we not acting. We need leadership. I want to focus on the UNICEF report card, 2020 release. These are quotes from the report card: ...Canada is worlds apart from other rich countries in providing healthy, happy childhoods for every child. Canada ranks among the countries with the best economic, environmental and social conditions for growing up, but the poorest outcomes for children and youth.... Canada falls below average in more than half the measures of child well-being. I also says, “Canada ranks lowest in child survival”, ranking 35 out of 38 in teen suicides, and 33 out of 38 in child violence, including homicide. The UNICEF report card rates Canada as not making progress relative to other rich countries. It says, “Canada has been making little to no progress in reducing child mortality, obesity or bullying” and “Canada has been falling backward in children’s sense of well-being” and in the quality of their close relationships. It also says: Canada is one of only a handful of countries...that have better economic, environmental and social conditions but worse child well-being.... Canada’s governments spend less on families and children than most wealthy countries. If this does not disgust the House, I do not know what should. If we do not take care of our children, we do not have a future. How can our children be taken care of when the adults are not taken of? We have made so many strides in overcoming stigma. People are ready to go ask for help, but when they do, there is nothing there for them. I am sorry. I adore the work my colleague has done on this file. He is so passionate about mental health, like so many people in the House are, but when our lead is mental health is health, that is 20 years behind where we should be. We know mental health is health. Why are we not transferring the $4.5 billion promised by the federal government to make a difference? On the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health recommendations, listen and act. That is leadership. Listen to what they are asking. Take immediate steps to create a mental health transfer allocating permanent, ongoing federal funding for mental health services starting in budget 2023. This is consistent with the multi-year funding promised in the 2021 election platform. People are dying. What more is needed? There is action we could take today, and I call on the government and everyone in the House. This is non-partisan. This impacts everyone of us. Make the difference today. We need leadership. We need to listen, and we need to act.

542 words

All Topics

Ms. Michelle Ferreri (Peterborough—Kawartha, CPC)

Oct/20/22 8:42:30 p.m.
Watch

Madam Chair, I will be sharing my time today with the member for Brandon—Souris. Five minutes to talk about mental health is certainly not enough time. I appreciate the grace and vulnerability that has been shared tonight. I also appreciate that every single member in the House has been touched by mental health. I appreciate that everyone acknowledges that this is a crisis. However, my frustration and anger is at a bubbling point, just like many Canadians around this country. We do not need more advocacy. We need leadership. This week, 31-year-old Burnaby RCMP officer, a member of the detachment's mental health and homeless outreach team, just three years into her career, Constable Shaelyn Yang was fatally stabbed while attending a homeless campsite before 11 a.m., in broad daylight. I want to tell the House what our Prime Minister said. This is a quote from yesterday in question period: We need to do more to step up on our mental health funding, as the hon. member before mentioned. He was referring to the hon. member for Cariboo—Prince George, who has been an advocate and has done great work. The Prime Minister went on to say: We need to make sure that we are giving our frontline police officers the tools to be supported as they encounter difficult situations. We need to make sure they are not the only mental health workers out there accessible to so many people. Unfortunately they have been. They have been extraordinary at it, but we need to provide better support. The provinces and the federal government need to work together to fund more mental health supports. That is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau—

286 words

All Topics

Ms. Michelle Ferreri (Peterborough—Kawartha, CPC)

Oct/20/22 8:37:20 p.m.
Watch

Madam Chair, my question is around why we have seen such a delay. If this is such a crisis, if we have known about it for so long and the recommendations have been made, why does the member opposite think it has taken so long to do anything or take any action related to mental health?

56 words

Context: House Hansard - 108 - Oct/5/22