Mood Disorders Society of Canada (MDSC) is disheartened by the 2023 Federal Budget’s lack of a targeted approach to meet the mental health and substance use crisis our country has been living through for many years. It is getting worse for millions of Canadians, especially 1 out of 3 who are experiencing a mental illness and do not believe they receive the care they need.

In a country as vast, resourceful, and wealthy as Canada, to see its citizens face such long-standing barriers to care, wait times that create untold pain and suffering for individuals and families, and unequal services from region to region is to witness a mental health system that is uncoordinated, disconnected and inefficient.

In 2022, MDSC held roundtables with 48 community mental health organizations representing every province and territory. Our final report detailed clearly and concisely the challenges and barriers these mental health care providers are fighting every day, in every region of the country. If it were just a region or two that may need to improve processes and policies, that would be one thing, but the similarity of what is happening across the country in every region is a unified statement that “the current mental health system is not working”!

While Canadians struggle, we see family members, colleagues and friends unable to access the care they need. We also witness our emergency rooms being filled with people who have no other place to turn to for help. Rather than rising to this widespread call for action, we again witness a patchwork of funding announcements and streams, bilateral agreements, and more “assurances” of holding regions accountable for improving services.

The federal budget is allocating $25 billion over ten years through bilateral agreements to individual provincial and territorial health system needs, such as expanding access to family health services, supporting health workers and reducing backlogs, increasing mental health and substance use support, and modernizing health systems. Yet it is commonly recognized that mental illnesses, such as depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and PTSD, are the leading cause of disability in Canada and that they also cost our economy more than $51 billion a year.

As two MDSC national mental health care surveys indicated, mental health care is varied in different regions and many Canadians indicate they are not receiving the services they desperately need in a timely manner. With the new funding being sent to provinces and territories, we are hearing that as part of these transfers, they will now be asked to report back on outcomes. MDSC and many other healthcare organizations have been calling for this for many years, yet we still do not have a standardized set of reporting, billing, and measuring systems that are comparable across jurisdictions throughout the country. One of the problems we have seen is a lack of reporting structure to track where transferred funds are going.  From one province to the next, does the funding go into general revenues and get moved from there? If so, where? What is the impact that it is having? Are wait times being reduced? Are more Patients being served? Are new healthcare workers being hired and trained? Are community mental health organizations being funded to provide support? What are the comparables to other regions? What is having an impact and what is not? Are key gaps being recognized and addressed?

We must ensure every Canadian has access to timely, effective mental health care regardless of where they live in Canada. The federal government must take the steps to ensure full and comparable data reporting to publicly disclose outcomes and hold all regions accountable. Provinces need to prioritize mental health and support collaborative and connected mental health services. With governments facing so many competing priorities, all levels of government must understand the intersectional impact mental health has on all our lives.  Mental health touches every aspect of our lives, and it can no longer be a subpart of what we tackle. We need to overhaul the system, there should be no closed doors, and there should be more open doors to the right service and support.

We are pleased that budget 2023 proposes to provide $158.4 million over three years to support the implementation and operation of a pan-Canadian 988 mental health crisis number. This vital resource is an example of how the federal government can take impactful steps to make a difference. As Canadians use the 988 service and are referred to community mental health organizations, demand will significantly increase for these agencies yet there are no assurances that they will be able to meet the increased demand. As our national report clearly shows, the majority of these organizations are not being properly funded now. Yet we see no indication from this recent budget that this will change.

MDSC is concerned with the lack of health research funding. Without research being adequately supported in the field of health research, we are putting at risk Canada’s health security and seriously impeding our ability to mitigate rising rates of mental illness. We must not forget the hard lessons learned over the past three years. Research is essential to advancements in prevention and treatments. We must invest to maintain Canada’s leadership in innovation and in cultivating the talent we need to pave a path forward to a more healthy, inclusive, and sustainable future.

About MDSC

Mood Disorders Society of Canada has grown out of the vision and drive of a number of persons with directly lived experience leaders from across Canada who in 1995 saw the need for a broad-based structure to bring PWLE together and who believe that we have a key role to play with regard to education and advocacy at the national level. The Mood Disorders Society of Canada (MDSC) has evolved to become one of Canada’s best-connected mental health Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) with a demonstrated track record for forging and maintaining meaningful and sustained partnerships with the public, private and non-profit sectors throughout Canada.

It was formally launched and incorporated in 2001 with the overall objective of providing people with mood disorders with a strong, cohesive voice at the national level to improve access to treatment, inform research, and shape program development and government policies with the goal of improving the quality of life for people affected by mood disorders.

For further information MDSC Media Relations (613) 921-5565,  info@mdsc.ca

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