Hon. Denise Batters: Senator Omidvar, I was surprised to see in your report that it seemed to be a revelation to your committee that men’s suicide deaths are 75% of the Canadian total.

Thirteen years ago, in 2010, I produced a TV commercial in memory of my late husband to raise awareness about mental illness and suicide prevention, and among the facts noted in that 2010 ad was that men die by suicide three times as often as women. I and many other mental health advocates in Canada have spoken nationally about this topic for more than a decade.

The short section of your report about boys and men starts with this sentence:

The committee received less testimony regarding boys and men, and recognizes that this population should be considered in further depth in future studies on suicide prevention in Canada.

Senator Omidvar, your committee, as you mentioned, had only five meetings with witnesses on this topic. Why didn’t you have more meetings to receive that type of key evidence about men?

Senator Omidvar: Thank you, Senator Batters, and thank you for your continued advocacy on this matter. I have not watched the particular TV ad that you did, but I will undertake to do so.

Our committee has a work plan, and we dedicated five meetings to discuss the report. We felt that even though we recognized the shortcomings of not hearing more witnesses on the suicide rate of boys and men, we did point it out in our study, and our recommendation reflects the findings of the committee.

Thank you.