What's the latest on Canada's Mental Health Commission?

winnie — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 15:48:08 +0000

One in five Canadians will experience mental illness in their lifetime. Canada is the only G8 country with no comprehensive plan to deal with mental health. (Globe and Mail, 2008)

In John Ralston Saul's new book, A Fair Country: Telling Truths About Canada, one of the things he mentions is a remarkable series of articles done by the Globe and Mail in 2008 on Mental Health by Andre Picard.
(http://www.theglobeandmail.com/breakdown)

He mentions it as an important area where Canada has fallen down in supporting its citizens (Saul notes before the BNA Act the phrase in all
government documents was actually 'peace, welfare and good government' not 'peace, order and good government').

We have since had the Kirby Commission that criss-crossed Canada asking for ideas to change the system. They have since been asking for feedback on a preliminary report called Out of the Shadows at Last.

The question is when will they be done, and what will happen next? When will things get better for Canadians? What's happening in NS?

Other resources:
CMHA Mental Health Week (May 4-10, 2009):
For more information contact: Alexandra Keay at akeay@cmha.ca or (613) 745-7750 Ext. 222.
CMHA Fast Facts about Mental Health & Mental Illness:
http://www.cmha.ca/bins/content_page.asp?cid=6-20-23-43
Out of the Shadows at Last:
www.parl.gc.ca/39/1/parlbus/commbus/senate/Com-e/SOCI-E/rep-e/ rep02may06-e.htm - 255k
NS Mental Health Association Fast Facts:
http://www.mentalhealthns.ca/content/view/40/55/
Healthy Minds Cooperative (based in Halifax):
http://www.healthyminds.ca/aboutus.html

some background info for anyone who might be interested in writing a story on this

What's the latest on Canada's Mental Health Commission?