Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In any given year, one in five Canadians experience mental health problems. The cost to the economy, of course, is enormous at $50 billion. On average, one in three adults and one in four children or youth report that they have only sought help or assistance through treatment programs.
Four thousand Canadians die every year as a result of suicide. These are terrible statistics, but I’m going to go on. Up to 70 percent of adults living with mental health problems report the symptoms started during childhood. In 2010, mental health conditions were responsible for 47 percent of all approved disabilities claims in the federal service, almost doubling that average since 20 years prior. Mental health problems and illnesses account for more than $6 billion in lost productivity due to the absenteeism. Interestingly enough, the vast majority of people living with mental health illness problems are not involved with the criminal justice system. However, in fact, they are more likely to be victims of violence by their perpetrators.
Estimates suggest that the rate of serious mental health problems among federal offenders, upon admission, have increased by 60 to 70 percent since 1997. Adults with severe mental health problems and illnesses die up to 25 years earlier.
Depending on which study is cited, between 25 and 74 percent of people who are homeless in Canada have reported that they have mental health problems. Among those with the most severe and complex mental health problems, unemployment is estimated to be 70 to 90 percent of the burden that they carry. One study reported that 27 percent of caregivers lost income caring for a family member that they care so dearly about.
About 20 percent of the Canadian population do not use the mother tongue of English or French. Twelve percent of those language speakers use another language other than English or French in their home. Mr. Speaker, I’m going to try in French…
[Translation] Forty-seven percent of francophones who live outside of Quebec have difficulty finding health care, usually because of the lack of French-speaking health professionals. [Translation ends]
Could you only imagine how difficult it is to seek help in the Northwest Territories if you only speak one of the nine other languages other than English or French?
At this particular time, I’ll seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Depending if you’re a girl, woman, man or boy, girls will attempt suicide at higher rates; men and boys will die of suicide more often. First Nations youth die by suicide five or six times more often than their non-Aboriginal counterparts.
To bring this to a close, Canada only spends about seven cents out of every public health care dollar on mental health care, far below the 10 to 11 percent countries like New Zealand the UK spend.
In closing, mental illness is certainly the elephant in the room that we can all see that no one seems to want to talk about or confront. I’ll finish my statement by pointing out that the NWT has a 24-hour Helpline at 1-800-661-0844. We know many families struggle with this. Many parents struggle with this to take care of their loved ones. Mr. Speaker, we must do more. Thank you.
