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House Hansard - 114

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 20, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 114 - Oct/20/22
Mr. Todd Doherty (Cariboo—Prince George, CPC)
  • Oct/20/22 6:40:40 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I am honoured to take part in this evening's debate. As those in this chamber know, I have been a huge proponent of raising mental health issues and suicide prevention issues since the first day I was elected. I know we have made huge strides as a society when it comes to mental health, but we have so much further to go. There was a time not so long ago when people were embarrassed to talk about their struggles. Feeling sad, hurt or upset was something to be ashamed of. Growing up, we were taught to internalize our feelings. We were taught that we did not air our dirty laundry in public. We were taught that any showing of weakness was a failure of character. It was always just better to keep it inside. I want to say that this was just a sign of the times, but I think it goes much deeper than that. I believe we felt this way because we were scared. We did not understand the full impact of depression. We did not understand the impact that mental health has on physical health. We did not understand how many people actually struggle with mental health issues. Over my time as a member of Parliament and in the work I did previously, I have heard from first responders, firefighters, police, paramedics, nurses, soldiers and everyday Canadians that even though we can now talk openly about these issues, there is still a stigma attached to them. No one actually owns up to it, but it is still there. Even with as far as we have come, those feelings of weakness of character still persist. Education has been key, and recent statistics show that mental illness will directly affect one-third of, or 9.1 million, Canadians over the course of their lives. Prior to the pandemic, in any given year, one in five Canadians experienced a mental health issue. While statistics are not yet available postpandemic, we know that the number of Canadians who have experienced mental health issues will be more than one-third. The effect COVID restrictions have had on mental health may never fully be known, but they will last generations. Being locked up and confined to our homes is not natural. By nature, we are social beings. We need that personal interaction. Over the course of the last few years, we have witnessed a change in how we deal with mental illness. Bell Let's Talk Day is just one example. We have tried to talk more about depression and mental health. We have talked more openly about suicide. We have talked more openly about post-traumatic stress disorder. We see more programs, more apps and more supports being offered, and while this is good, it is not good enough. We need to work together with the provinces to find a way to put mental health on par with physical health. We need to work together to find more support services for those who are suffering from severe and persistent mental health issues. I often say there is no health without mental health. As a matter of fact, the minister just mentioned that same thing. We need government and business to work together to effect this change. In all of the recent studies done, we see that poor mental health costs Canada $50 billion a year in lost productivity. Mental health problems account for approximately 30% of the short- and long-term workplace disability claims. This is an astronomical sum to me. I cannot help but believe there has to be a better way. My grandma used to say that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This old adage would seem to apply here. If we can recognize the symptoms and triggers, we can do a great deal of preventative work. For every dollar spent on mental health, four dollars to $10 is returned to the economy. Improving access to treatments for depression could boost our economy by $32 billion a year. This is why New Zealand tabled its “Wellbeing Budget” in 2019, a groundbreaking departure from the norm. This budget provided $455 million for new frontline mental health services, and every aspect of government policy is viewed through a mental health lens. Suicide prevention received a $40-million boost. The government worked to provide $320 million to address family and sexual violence to improve the lives and mental health of children. I tell people back home that I am the luckiest person alive. Being a member of Parliament feels more like a calling than it does a job. To stand here in this chamber and have the ability to effect change is truly an honour. It is truly humbling. I have travelled the world representing our community and our country. I have seen and experienced things that most people will only ever read about, and now I am a three-term member of Parliament representing one of the largest ridings in the country. Yesterday was my seven-year anniversary, as a matter of fact, of being a member of Parliament. When I am asked how I got into politics, my answer is always the same: I never intended to be a politician. I fell ass-backwards into a position that I now feel I was born to be in, that I feel was maybe God's plan for me. What I do know is that I live every day working tirelessly not to perpetuate the dysfunction and the abuse that filled our childhood. In my role as a member of Parliament, when speaking to school-aged children, my goal is always to leave them knowing that, regardless of their story, background or setting, they too could one day find themselves in our nation's highest legislative chamber, an honour that is beyond words. While I have never shared this publicly, I live every day with the emotional and physical scars of the abuse that my brothers and I dealt with back home. My hope is always that if a person finds themselves experiencing some or all of what my brothers have, that they will see that they can overcome. They are not broken, and they are not weak. I can still remember the smell of burning flesh and the sight of my brother's skin hanging off of his hand. We were lined up to watch. We did not know if we were all getting this, or if it was just my brother Kevin. The burner had been turned on for some time. It was so hot that it was not even red any longer, it was purple. It was a bad day. Why? I do not know. Was the canned food stacked properly? Were the dishes done? Was the garbage out? It did not matter. Whatever played in her head, we were going to have to pay for it. We had been here before. We knew what was coming. Just a couple of weeks earlier, I had been on the receiving end of a can of soup that was thrown at me. As I entered the kitchen, as pots and pans clanged violently, the can hit me squarely in the corner of my eye, opening up a gaping gash that required stitches, all because the cupboards were disorganized. As we stood there, tears slowly ran down our cheeks. We were all terrified. She yanked his little arm. It was barely able to reach the top of the stove. I remember thinking that he even stood on his toes to help her deliver the punishment. She held his arm in place as she placed his tiny hand onto the burner. I could hear the sound of his flesh burning. Oddly, I do not remember him crying or screaming, maybe because our screams drowned out his. She did not even blink as she flung him to the side and looked directly at my brother and me. I can remember Trent and Kevin thrown into their bedroom, something that was knocked over and the slapping around, over and over, their cries and then silence. Did she finally do it? Did her anger and hatred finally boil over to end with her killing one of us? I shared that with all my colleagues to tell us that I come at this as a non-partisan issue. My brother Kevin was a victim of that. He lives on the streets to this day. He was shot twice with a shotgun last summer. He is gripped in our country's opioid addiction. I lost my brother-in-law to an overdose in 2008. Each and every day, I believe that if we, as leaders, share our stories and tell people and show Canadians that it is okay to come forward and share our story, we will break the stigma. I have been a member of Parliament for seven years, and I have cried way too much in this chamber, but I honestly believe that if we throw away the talking points, speak from the heart and work on tangible things, we can show people who are struggling and suffering silently that they too could maybe, one day, regardless of where they come from, stand in this hallowed place and be a member of Parliament, that they can achieve anything, and that they can overcome the abuses they faced. I live every day for this. It went so much better in my office when I was rehearsing, but I appreciate everything we are doing. Obviously, opening this up opens up a whole can of worms, but this is not just my story. It is my brothers' story, and it is a story of many Canadians who are struggling to this day, who are struggling right now and may be listening. To those who are struggling, I want them to know that I see them. I hear them. I am fighting for them.
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