Headed by former senator Michael Kirby, blue-ribbon commission will craft strategy

BILL CURRY

From Friday's Globe and Mail

August 31, 2007 at 2:13 AM EDT

The federal government will officially launch the new Canadian Mental Health Commission Friday in a bid to erase the social stigmas that prevent many from getting the medical treatment they need.

Former Liberal senator Michael Kirby, who was behind the idea before he retired from the Senate, will chair the commission. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to make the announcement Friday morning in Ottawa.

Three main objectives for the commission have already been decided.

The first is the launch of a 10-year campaign against discrimination faced by many who suffer from mental illness. The idea is inspired by previous successes by governments in Australia and Scotland.

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Former senator Michael Kirby is seen in the Senate in Ottawa. (Dave Chan for The Globe and Mail)

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Second, the commission will create a national knowledge exchange centre, where everyone affected by mental illness, from relatives to researchers, can access the latest information on mental illnesses.

The third role of the commission is to develop a national mental health strategy for Canada. Even though he retired from the Senate last year, Mr. Kirby has continued to advocate on the issue of mental health services.

While the commission will be tasked with crafting the details of the strategy, the May, 2006, report by the Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology – chaired by Mr. Kirby – called for actions such as expanded services and social housing for people with mental illnesses.

“In many large urban centres in Canada, there is not a single pediatric psychiatric unit. If there were no medical beds for children with childhood leukemia, heart problems or other medical problems, we as a society would be outraged,” Mr. Kirby told Toronto's Empire Club earlier this year.

“For the most part, however, we do not even recognize that there is a problem for children with serious mental illness. So, our children wait and suffer … in silence.”

A board of governors for the commission will also be announced. It will include provincial representatives, as well as non-governmental members who have been affected in some way by mental illness.

Mary Simon, the president of the national Inuit group Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, will be one of the board members.

Friday's expected announcement comes a day after the Canadian Institute for Health Information issued a report showing that mental illness is far and away the leading cause of hospitalization among Canada's roughly 10,000 homeless people.

The idea for a mental health commission was initially endorsed by the premiers of all provinces – except Quebec – at the major 2005 first ministers meeting on health care, chaired by former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin. Quebec has since opted to take part and will have a representative on the commission's board of directors.

At the 2005 meeting, Ottawa agreed to increase federal health transfers to the province by $41.3-billion over 10 years. In opposition and now in government, Mr. Harper's Conservatives have vowed to follow through on that plan.

The most recent Conservative budget set aside $10-million over two years to establish a Canadian Mental Health Commission and pledged further annual funding of $15-million starting in 2009-10. The mention in the March budget offered few details, other than to say the commission will be based on the recommendations of Mr. Kirby's May, 2006, report.

Senators on the committee travelled across the country, hearing how Canadians suffering from mental illness – particularly young people – were slipping through the cracks. During the hearings, Mr. Kirby stated that every senator on the committee had a friend or relative with a mental illness.

One former federal public servant from St. John's made a particularly emotional presentation to the senators as she openly discussed her battles with depression.

“I have lost family and friends because they are afraid. The fear in this case is ignorance and I just have to deal every day with suicidal thoughts, medication, therapy and psychiatrists. It is not an easy road,” Helen Forristall told the senators during a meeting in 2005. “I would do anything to have breast cancer over mental illness. I would do anything because I [would] not have to put up with the stigma.”

Committee's recommendations

A new mental-health commission expected to be announced today will be based on the recommendations of the May, 2006, Senate social affairs committee report: Out of the Shadows at Last - Transforming Mental Health, Mental Illness and Addiction Services in Canada. Chaired by former Liberal senator Michael Kirby, the committee's final report numbered 567 pages and contained 118 recommendations, including:

IMPROVED SERVICES

Provinces should increase the amount of help available for individuals with mental illnesses. Where resources are tight, group counselling should be used to help more people.

INVOLVE THE FAMILIES

Counselling services should be expanded to include family members of those suffering with mental illness. New legislation should allow individuals to appoint substitute decision-makers for times of crisis.

INVOLVE THE SCHOOLS

Mental-health services should be offered in schools and curriculum should include sensitivity to mental-health issues.

MORE RESEARCH

The federal government should commit $25-million a year for research into mental health and addiction.

SAFE HOUSING AND JOBS

Ottawa should fund affordable housing units and job-placement programs for people with mental illnesses.

DEVELOP A SPECIFIC PLAN FOR ABORIGINAL CANADIANS

The plan should include further funding for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, which helps aboriginals address the psycho- logical impacts of Indian residential schools.

ENCOURAGE LOW-ALCOHOL BEER

Take five cents off of the excise duty on a drink of beer where the alcohol content is between 2.5 per cent and 4 per cent. Beer with less than 2.5 per cent alcohol should have no duty at all.

Bill Curry