44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 20, 2022 10:00AM
- Oct/20/22 9:16:32 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I want to thank my hon. colleague for her presentation tonight and the personal experience she shared with us in the House. Many of us have had similar circumstances in our families with relatives and those close to us.
There are many things I would like to ask her, but as she mentioned a 15-year-old in this case, I want to ask what she thinks we should do for the youth side of mental health, given that about one in four people impacted by mental health is under the age she mentioned and this is more than just an education process.
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- Oct/20/22 9:17:18 p.m.
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Madam Chair, really, this is about youth, because when we take the space to understand where our youth are sitting in this mental health crisis, we understand that the mental health of our youth is part of a holistic approach to the mental health of our families in this country. This is why, in my many conversations with the minister and in our conversations at the all-party mental health caucus, I have a wraparound service approach in mental health where the whole family is cared for.
What is going on with our youth is going on in their homes, going on in their playgrounds and going on among their peers. We cannot get to the heart of this if we do not get to all of the members who are a part of it and start talking and working with them together.
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- Oct/20/22 9:18:09 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, I thank the member for sharing her story. It is a very important one and one that too many Nunavummiut relate to, because the youth suicide rate in Nunavut is quite high.
Having said that, I know that one of the things that seem to be most effective for addressing suicide is to make sure that youth actually realize there is nothing wrong with them, because the way that suicide prevention works is to treat people as if there is something wrong with them.
I wonder if the member agrees with me that when it comes to programming for youth, what can be more effective is to allow them to learn to express themselves in a healthy way and to help them with positive coping skills so that we are actually teaching them to withstand whatever challenges might come their way.
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- Oct/20/22 9:19:11 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I had the honour and privilege of travelling through Iqaluit this summer with the member to see her work on the ground with youth and mental health in Nunavut and with young Inuk, and she is absolutely right. We should give our young people the tools to self-care and self-love, to be strong and to be proud of their heritage as indigenous youth and youth from new countries who make Canada home. If they do not feel they have a place here with the resources, hope and supports they need, whether it is peer to peer, peer to mentor or within a wraparound framework, as I mentioned previously, then we are failing them.
As my colleague said earlier, this is not a partisan issue. We all get it. We are here because we get it, and we understand that there are many pieces of the puzzle. It takes a village to raise a child, and this Canadian village really needs to step up for its youth.
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- Oct/20/22 9:20:30 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I thank my hon. colleague for sharing her story.
I want to give her an opportunity to elaborate a bit, given the fact that we have had a global pandemic with isolation and a lot of young people did not have the experience of graduating with their class or seeing their classmates. Has this actually increased the likelihood of seeing the supports needed for youth and mental health? Could she elaborate on that?
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- Oct/20/22 9:26:34 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I thank the member for sharing with us her personal experience of what she saw with her children and the importance of having mental health supports in place.
I am also a parent and one thing I have noticed that has been impacting the mental health of a lot of children and youth is climate anxiety, which is basically the impact of climate change and the increase in anxiety as a result. I wonder if the member could share if she is hearing that from constituents and how she feels we could best address the impact of climate change and how it impacts the mental health of youth.
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- Oct/20/22 9:27:16 p.m.
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Madam Chair, that is a really interesting question. We know that when children see hurricanes or floods it is very concerning. I think right now there are multiple things that are concerning children. It is not just climate change, but definitely things like the economy. There are mental health issues children are going through. I am talking to kids who are working to put food on the table with their parents. I am speaking to people who are not getting their medication because they have not done their taxes and they do not have a health benefit card and are falling behind.
There are so many things when it comes to this. Climate change is absolutely one out there, especially for our youth, and I think that we have to provide them hope for the future. Where we are right now, I am not trying say we are alarmists in a bad way, but what we have to do is look for healthy solutions that will help our children through this as well.
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- Oct/20/22 9:47:14 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I was trying to understand what it was exactly that the member was asking. I am not sure if that is an app, a program or something that can be used on our phones.
To answer based on the information I have, absolutely, mental health concerns with children are on the rise. Technology use is definitely a component in that. There are benefits to technology that can be used, like for education purposes. There are ways to stay connected through technology. It is definitely a factor that is being looked at by educators and support workers in the community. If we had the health care transfer put into place in the provinces and territories, that could be further looked into in ensuring that youth and children are getting the support that they need to stay at their healthiest.
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- Oct/20/22 10:00:30 p.m.
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Madam Chair, my colleague touched on youth. He mentioned he turned 40, and I am eight years older than him. Thank God, I did not have social media when I was a kid growing up. Would he like to elaborate on the impact of social media, cyberbullying and so on, in terms of children's mental health?
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