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Lisa Marie Barron

Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
NDP

Nanaimo—Ladysmith
British Columbia
Voting Attendance: 66%
Expenses Last Quarter: $144,270.93

Government Page

Context: House Hansard - 298 - Apr/11/24

Ms. Lisa Marie Barron (Nanaimo—Ladysmith, NDP)

Apr/11/24 1:29:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as members who are elected to represent our constituents, we know this needs to be at the core of all of our decisions and discussions, to ensure that we have sound climate action that matches the emergency we are facing with a real jobs plan. My colleague prior mentioned the Youth Climate Corps and the importance of this being implemented. It is a motion that has been put forward by my NDP colleague, the member for Victoria, to ensure that young people are part of the solutions, that they are trained, employed and part of the work in lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Could the member share whether he is in support of this motion as well as share his thoughts on how this important work aligns with what we are talking about today?

135 words

Context: House Hansard - 129 - Nov/17/22

Ms. Lisa Marie Barron (Nanaimo—Ladysmith, NDP)

Nov/17/22 6:42:43 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am happy to ask for further clarification on a question I brought up earlier on youth and children's access to mental health supports and the backlog of these supports as a result of Liberal inaction. This seems particularly timely as National Child Day here in Canada is coming up on November 20. I want to start by expressing that I am a parent of two, and many in this chamber are also parents. I worked directly with children and youth in our school systems. I worked directly with youth and families in addictions. I saw the implications for children and youth directly of a lack of appropriate, accessible, timely and adequate mental health supports for children and youth. We are talking about the accessibility and location specifically and having it somewhere nearby and having barrier-free access to mental health supports. The costs are a huge barrier. I am looking at free or appropriately priced mental health care, which should be free, and having it be appropriate. When it comes to availability and consistency, often youth struggle to build relationships with a service provider without that consistency, and of course, it should be culturally appropriate. The wait-lists and backlogs, as we all know, are often months and sometimes years long. These youth and children were not only not accessing the support in relation to the immediate symptoms they were experiencing, but also those symptoms were compounded because they were not getting access to the supports. The illnesses they were experiencing often increased. I saw youth whose medication was either under-prescribed, overprescribed or inappropriately prescribed due to a lack of access to care. When mental health supports are consistently unavailable and inappropriately funded, it reinforces the stigma attached to mental health supports. It reinforces the narrative that mental health supports are not important. We know that mental health and physical health are inextricably interconnected. We cannot disconnect one from the other. This is not only having a direct impact on youth and children, but it also has an impact on their loved ones. It has an impact on our capacity to support one another in the community. We need to have federal leadership today. The stats do not lie. In 2020, one-quarter of the hospitalizations across Canada for those five to 24 years of age were around mental health, yet we are still seeing inaction. There was $4.5 billion promised by the Liberal government over five years, and to date none of that has been delivered. This is money, much-needed support, that has been promised and committed that is not being used to support children and youth with mental health. Some $250 million from 2021-22 and $625 million from 2022-23 has not been allocated. I think of my colleague, the member for Courtenay—Alberni, who put forward Motion No. 67, pushing the government to establish the Canada mental health transfer. I see I am running close to my four minutes, so I will ask the government when it will be sending this much-needed mental health transfer to the provinces and territories.

523 words

Context: House Hansard - 114 - Oct/20/22

Ms. Lisa Marie Barron

Oct/20/22 9:47:14 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I was trying to understand what it was exactly that the member was asking. I am not sure if that is an app, a program or something that can be used on our phones. To answer based on the information I have, absolutely, mental health concerns with children are on the rise. Technology use is definitely a component in that. There are benefits to technology that can be used, like for education purposes. There are ways to stay connected through technology. It is definitely a factor that is being looked at by educators and support workers in the community. If we had the health care transfer put into place in the provinces and territories, that could be further looked into in ensuring that youth and children are getting the support that they need to stay at their healthiest.

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Context: House Hansard - 114 - Oct/20/22

Ms. Lisa Marie Barron (Nanaimo—Ladysmith, NDP)

Oct/20/22 9:26:34 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I thank the member for sharing with us her personal experience of what she saw with her children and the importance of having mental health supports in place. I am also a parent and one thing I have noticed that has been impacting the mental health of a lot of children and youth is climate anxiety, which is basically the impact of climate change and the increase in anxiety as a result. I wonder if the member could share if she is hearing that from constituents and how she feels we could best address the impact of climate change and how it impacts the mental health of youth.

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Member of Parliament

Lisa Marie Barron