SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Ontario Assembly

43rd Parl. 1st Sess.
March 6, 2023 10:15AM
  • Mar/6/23 11:30:00 a.m.

My question is for the Premier. On average, four children a week end up in a Hamilton emergency room for self-harm. There has been a significant uptake of children engaging in self-harming behaviours, yet the wait-list for treatment continues to grow. The health and well-being of our children is critical, but they are not getting the help they need.

I wrote to the minister back in January about this issue and I have yet to receive a response, so I’m asking once again: Will this government support our children and commit to investing in Hamilton’s youth mental health programming and to build human resource capacity?

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  • Mar/6/23 1:30:00 p.m.

In all of our ridings, we are experiencing a dramatic increase in demand for mental health services.

In Hamilton, despite this state of emergency, we have seen the planned closure of at least two mental health service providers. We’re losing Catholic Family Services of Hamilton, who operated for more than 70 years, and Hamilton Mental Health Outreach, who supported people in Hamilton with severe and persistent mental illness for over 30 years. Both organizations have cited an inability to meet the increase in demand because of underfunding and struggles to recruit staff with frozen wages because of Bill 124.

Hamilton Mental Health Outreach offered important services that will be noticeably missed. One of their services was a street outreach program for people living rough or unhoused on our streets, connecting people in crisis to help.

These services were critical in preventing people from falling through the cracks. We now have fewer places for people to call when they need help or for family members to call for their loved ones. I hear from many people in distress, from desperate parents who don’t know where to turn when they need help. Imagine your loved one or your child during a mental health crisis and you are helpless because you simply do not know where to take them. Emergency rooms are not the answer. Preventing people from falling through the cracks is critical.

In Hamilton, we have just experienced the heartbreaking death of a local icon, Teenage Head guitarist Gord Lewis, and the not-criminally-responsible verdict for his son Jonathan. By all accounts, this was a tragedy that could have been avoided with a system of adequately funded mental health care for individuals and families in crisis. Gord’s family shared with me that Jonathan sought help at 10 emergency wards in the 36 hours before Gord was killed.

This bill is a small step in the right direction. We need an immediate emergency stabilization investment of 8% to begin to address this crisis and prevent any more tragic outcomes, death or suicides.

In closing, I want to acknowledge the many families, like the Lewises, who work as advocates for their relatives and for others in our community.

To the dedicated mental health workers and organizations on the front line: We recognize your tireless work in a system that is letting you down—not just you, but the people and the families you work so hard to protect and to serve.

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  • Mar/6/23 2:30:00 p.m.

I want to thank the official opposition for bringing forward this motion.

I want to also acknowledge the members from Nepean and Hamilton Mountain. It takes courage to share your personal experiences.

I want to acknowledge the government’s work on the Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence, but the experts, the front-line workers, are asking now for funding. The government needs to spend some of the money they’ve been squirrelling away on more services that the people of Ontario need. We know that that money is there, and we know that the need is there.

I hope this government acknowledges that we are in an opioid and mental health crisis. Walk down any downtown in a large city or small town across our province, and you’ll see the evidence. I hope the government will listen to great organizations like the CMHA and help them retain the incredible workers who are passionate about the work they do and the people whom they help. The government needs to think about what they can do now, not just in the budget, to help those workers stay in the jobs they love, instead of driving them to better-paying jobs, which is what we heard is happening throughout our pre-budget consultations. The CMHA talked about, I think it was, 250 open positions they have—positions for people who would be helping those who are in need on the streets and across our province to get the help that they need.

During those pre-budget consultations, we heard from numerous experts who stressed the need to expand mental health services and innovate our current approach to ensure that Ontarians get the support they need in a timely manner. For example, we heard from a psychiatrist at the Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences who is doing incredible work in finding innovative pathways in the mental health space—to assess, treat and provide a plan for patients immediately, within 24 hours, after they need to access emergency mental health services.

We heard from people about the need to expand mental health services for youth, in small communities in particular, and make it simple and accessible for them to access the services they need wherever they live.

We heard about the impact on businesses and community members who want to see those who are suffering get the help they need and not have to resort to living, and seeking unsafe drugs, on the streets.

Innovations and solutions are out there. We’ve heard from the experts in the mental health space on what they need not only to ensure better and timely care for those who seek their services, but also to ensure they can attract and retain the workers who deliver those services to those in need.

We heard during those pre-budget consultations about the effects of Bill 124 on workers, including those in the mental health sector—that it has been devastating and humiliating for them. We’ve heard that those health care workers do not feel supported by this government, and this bill was an example of that.

I’ve spoken to CMHA Toronto, and I know the great work they do and how committed they and their employees are to providing services to residents in my riding of Don Valley West and across Toronto, but they can’t do it without the money to pay their workers who provide those services.

According to CMHA, one in four people in Ontario access mental health services, and 43% are finding it difficult to access the services they need.

CMHA has asked for a base funding increase of 8%. This is a small amount of the government’s $6.4 billion of money that they said they would spend in this fiscal year. This small increase would help to increase care across the province of Ontario; reduce wait times, especially for those accessing and needing emergency mental health services; and allow for early interventions, where needed, to prevent the loss of life that we heard talked about today by the members.

We know that there’s money available—money that should and can still be spent on the people of Ontario. Increasing funding to CMHA to help increase their support and services, to help fill the gaps they’ve been experiencing in providing for the record level of demand that they see for their services—that will help individuals, that will help families, that will help alleviate this crisis. They need those workers to save people’s lives, and they need money to retain those workers.

The request by the CMHA is well thought out. It is modest. It is reasonable. And it would directly help the people who need their support.

I add my voice to those calling for this government to listen to the experts at CMHA and provide them with the resources they need now.

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