This week is Black Mental Health Week in Toronto.

To quote blackmentalhealthweek.ca: “TAIBU Community Health Centre, in partnership with the city of Toronto, hosted the inaugural Black Mental Health Day in March 2020, citing the Toronto Black community’s demand to end 400 years of oppression and the ongoing mental health impact of persistent, systemic anti-Black racism in all settings....

“This year, Tropicana Community Services, Strides Toronto, Delta Family Resource Centre, Black Health Alliance and Women’s Health in Women’s Hands are joining TAIBU Community Health Centre to ensure more voices are heard.”

Heal in Colour, the Mental Health Benefits of Representation; Painting as Therapy: Black Student Engagement Wellness Night; Breaking Down Barriers to Mental Health in Black Communities; Mental Health Law 101, Managing through Grieving and Loss; Tools to Help Black Families Navigate the Complexities of Social Services; Social Connections for Senior Mental Health; Black Men’s Mental Health Panel; and Black Survivors: the Intersection of Race and Human Trafficking are just a few of the courageous conversations programmed for this week.

On Saturday night, you can check out When Sisters Speak, a spoken word showcase, at St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, Jane Mallett Theatre.

Black Mental Health Week will have its closing ceremony in my community of Toronto–St. Paul’s at the Toronto Archives at 255 Spadina Road, and I invite all of you to join us.

I want to take this opportunity to thank the city of Toronto’s Confronting Anti-Black Racism unit. Thank you, Kemba, your team, community partners and advisers for your community “heart work.”

It is my hope this Legislature will follow suit and declare this week formally as Black Mental Health Week across the province of Ontario as so many of us have asked the Legislature to do.

This will be the last one. The member for Toronto–St. Paul’s.

I’m going to remind members that it’s best if you keep your introduction of your guests brief and devoid of any political commentary or partisan statement.

Members will please rise.

The House observed a moment’s silence.

Interjections.

I recognize the Associate Minister of Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity.

We’re ready to start question period. I recognize the leader of His Majesty’s loyal opposition.

My question is to the Solicitor General. In 2023, Toronto recorded close to 4,000 residential break-ins, a 30% increase from 2022. Torontonians are anxious about the rise of crime and its traumatic effect on victims who are left feeling vulnerable and violated when they deserve to feel safe in the private sanctuary of their homes.

Speaker, people are also frustrated that convicted criminals serve their time in jail only to resurface in the community to reoffend. They demand immediate action in establishing successful deterrents to crime, from the certainty of being caught to the consequences imposed upon criminals.

Speaker, can the Solicitor General explain this government’s approach to deter crime?

Interjection: Hire a gun lobbyist, right?

Thank you to the member from Toronto–St. Paul’s for your very passionate presentation. I know that education is close to your heart, and certainly, you are a subject matter expert.

I’m very interested—because one of the biggest contributors of stress and anxiety and depression for post-secondary students is financial stress. It’s the biggest barrier for students to actually seek support and treatment. The second, of course, is the wait-list to get access to those services, and the third is the lack of available services. These are all things that the government has the power to do something about. Is there anything in the bill that actually resources the students so that they can actually access the services that they need to combat anxiety and depression?