Statement by Gord Johns, NDP Critic for Mental Health and Harm Reduction, on World Mental Health Day

Ottawa: "On World Mental Health Day, New Democrats stand with those Canadians who are living with mental health challenges, their families and caregivers, and the workers and organizations who support them every day.

This year’s theme, “Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change,” is a powerful reminder that people with lived and living experience must be more than statistics or participants in government consultations. They should have a meaningful role in shaping the policies, services and systems that affect their lives.

For far too long, governments have asked people to share deeply personal stories about their mental illness, substance use, crisis and barriers to care, while failing to make the changes that those experiences so clearly demand.

Listening matters, but listening without action is not enough.

Canada’s mental health system remains fundamentally unequal. We call mental health part of health care, yet millions of Canadians still cannot access counselling, psychotherapy, community-based mental health services or substance-use treatment through our universal public health system.

Too often, care depends on whether someone has workplace benefits, private insurance, enough money to pay out of pocket, or simply happens to live in a community where services are available.

New Democrats believe this has to change.

Mental health care should be treated with the same seriousness as physical health care. The federal government must work with provinces, territories, Indigenous governments and people with lived and living experience to establish real mental health parity and bring community-based mental health and substance-use services into Canada’s universal public health care system.

This means stable federal funding tied to accessible care, stronger community and peer-led services, culturally appropriate and trauma-informed supports, and a system that is designed to help people before they reach a crisis point.

It also means ensuring that people with lived experience are not simply asked to tell their stories, but are given real power to help shape the solutions.

On World Mental Health Day, New Democrats are calling on the federal government to move beyond promises and take concrete action to close the gaps in mental health care.

Mental health is health.

And in a country with universal public health care, access to essential mental health care shouldn't depend on the size of your wallet, your postal code or the benefits that are attached to your job.

Real voices must lead to real change."