GuelphToday received the following from local mental health advocate Noah Irvine.
The federal government must show leadership in dealing with Canada’s mental health and addictions crisis which is getting worse because of the pandemic.
The COVID pandemic is attacking the mental health of Canadians from school children who want to see and play with their friends to seniors who are cut off from their families. In addition, Canadians who have been suffering with mental illness for years and now find limited resources even harder to get.
Constitutionally, health is a provincial responsibility but when Canadians from coast to coast to coast are suffering and dying from a similar tragedy, the federal government can and should have a leading role in addressing it.
I lost my mother to suicide when I was five and my father to an accidental overdose when I was 15.
I urge the federal government to create a Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions. One, a ministry would have the ability bring all levels of government – federal, provincial, territorial, municipal, and Indigenous – together to share information and develop solutions. Two, a seat around the cabinet table could ensure that all federal legislation and policies are reviewed from a mental health and addictions perspective. Any possible mental health and addictions concerns could be addressed before legislation and policy is implemented.
When I wrote to some 1,200 politicians about Canada’s mental health and addictions crisis, a common theme among those who wrote back was that all levels of government must work together to deal with the crisis. There was strong support to bring municipalities into the discussions. They experience the direct impact of the crisis on their streets and in the services they provide.
A federal Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions would show the government’s commitment to mental health in all its activities. It would be a model for other levels of government. It would be leadership by example.
In my newest letter, which was sent to every constituency office, I asked MPs to comment on the mental health and addictions crisis in their communities and nationally.
“MPs are elected to represent their constituents but they have the responsibility to look at issues nationally, particularly when a crisis, such as mental health and addictions, reaches into every corner and constituency in the country.
