- Member of Parliament
- NDP
- North Island—Powell River
- British Columbia
- Voting Attendance: 65%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $145,542.18
- Government Page
- May/15/23 2:51:14 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, women veterans feel invisible. The Liberal government does not hear their experiences, stories or pain. Virtually no research is being funded about military women's health issues, including mental health. While New Democrats welcome the recently announced mood and anxiety treatment guidelines, the unique challenges of female veterans must be considered.
Will the minister commit, today, to including women veterans in creating these guidelines so that women who bravely served our country could finally be seen?
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- Oct/20/22 7:48:58 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I heard what the member had to say, and I really appreciate it, but we do know that a lot of those frontline organizations are really struggling to keep their doors open. They do not have the resources, and so many people are losing their lives. They are losing their opportunities, and they are getting into cycles that continue to bring them down a path that is not good for their mental health. I wonder if the member could talk about the urgency that those organizations are feeling in requiring the funding to do the work they must do.
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- Oct/20/22 7:39:22 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the member for Courtenay—Alberni is my neighbour back home and I thank him for his incredible work on mental health, dealing with opioid addiction and all of the challenges we are seeing across Canada right now.
The member mentioned something in his speech that is really important to me and the communities that I have lived in, which is indigenous mental health. We know what the reality is with all of the history that we have all been apprised of. Indigenous communities have a particular reality that they face every single day. We know that the deaths that happen by suicide in indigenous communities, especially by young people, are profound, far too numerous and leave a weight on communities.
I remember speaking to one chief who felt that he was not getting a good deal from a level of government and he told a representative when they were discussing this that if the representative wanted any agreement from the chief, they were going to go to the bridge where more than one kid, unfortunately, had hanged themselves. When we talk about that, we must recognize this particular pressure.
I am wondering if the member could talk about what resources are needed to be acknowledged in indigenous communities to make sure that these deaths stop, because they are happening far too often, and Canada is directly to blame.
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- Oct/20/22 7:16:52 p.m.
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Madam Chair, as we are talking about this issue, it is very important that we focus on the fact that stigma is blocking so many people from getting the necessary help they need. Anyone who has done any work on trauma and the impacts it has not only on a person's emotions but also on a person's body would know that those two things must be integrated, and not see what is happening within somebody's mental state as separate from their physical state as they are together and the same.
Can the member talk about ways that all of us in this place can start to fight stigma in a meaningful way collaboratively so that we can see that change across this whole country?
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, I just want to say a deep thanks to the member for St. Albert—Edmonton for his advocacy on this very important issue. I want to recognize the member for Cowichan—Malahat—Langford from the NDP caucus, who has worked very hard as well with this member, and, of course, I want to thank Murray Rankin, a former member of the House who is now a minister in British Columbia for the NDP, for his work on it. I also have to recognize Senator Boisvenu for getting it to the House again.
Quite frankly, though, I am tired of debating this. I want to see this become law. I want to see this move forward because we need the action to happen. I thank all the people who have brought it forward. I certainly hope today that people do not take up all the time, so that we can see this bill actually do what I want it to do, which is collapse and get into the system so we can see the results.
This bill would amend section 649 of the Criminal Code to allow jurors to speak to mental health professionals about their experience as jurors. We know that all the parties in this place unanimously support it and have done it multiple times. Now we need to see the action taken.
We know that people who sit in those duties do their civic duty and sometimes they have to hear tremendously painful stories that leave them wracked with a lot of difficult feelings. Currently, we know that the folks in this country who serve our country and our communities by doing jury duty are left alone to deal with this. They have stress. They have anxiety. We have heard stories of post-traumatic stress disorder. We know that they are receiving a lot of harm.
Their job is to witness sometimes very horrendous things that have happened in our communities. They have to witness things that most of us, hopefully, will never have to witness. Therefore, it is important that we serve them by making sure that, when they do their civic duty, they are given the supports they need.
We know right now that secrecy is important. There is an element of secrecy that we need to have. It preserves the process and it keeps jurors from being harassed because they are not put in a position where they are forced to tell the story of what happened, but that secrecy should not go into the field of mental health. That needs to stop. When people are traumatized, they need to receive help so they can process those very difficult things.
We know that juror silence is creating a pattern of serious mental health challenges that sometimes result in life-long consequences. In fact, I perceive it as them being punished for doing their civic duty. Mark Farrant, the founder and CEO of Canadian Juries Commission, said very clearly, “Jury duty is a civic duty, but not a duty to suffer psychologically”.
That is all I am going to say on this. I hope that other members in this House will take the leadership to speak quickly to this so we can see it collapse. We need to get it into the legal framework so jurors in this country are respected and treated better by being able to access services.
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