Statement made on 07 May 2008 by Senator Joan Cook (retired)
Hon. Joan Cook:
Honourable senators, May 5 through May 11 is Mental
Health Week in Canada. This national awareness week, spearheaded by the Canadian
Mental Health Association, provides citizens across the country with
opportunities to learn more about the importance of mental health and how to
achieve and maintain it in our daily lives.
This year's theme, "Work-Life Balance: Make it Your Business," focuses on the
role that employers and businesses can play in making their workplace a mentally
healthy and productive environment.
Statistics show that one in five Canadians will experience some form of
mental health problem at some point in their lives. However, in spite of the
fact that almost all of us know someone who has been or who will be affected by
mental illness, very few of us know much about it.
It is human nature to fear what we do not understand and, unfortunately,
mental illness still carries a stigma. Sadly, many people hesitate to get help
for a mental health problem. Canadians need to know that effective treatment and
help exists and that the fear associated with mental illness will begin to
disappear as people learn and talk more about this illness.
In my home province of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Canadian Mental Health
Association will be hosting numerous events this week, beginning on May 5 with
the signing of a provincial proclamation by the Honourable Ross Wiseman, our
Minister of Health and Community Services, declaring Mental Health Week in
Newfoundland and Labrador. I am proud to be a member of the Pottle Centre board,
a drop-in centre for mental health consumers in St. John's, and they, too, will
be hosting an open house this week.
In keeping with the theme of the week, "Work-Life Balance: Make it Your
Business," information brochures will be circulated electronically to private
and public sector employers across the province.
Honourable senators, I urge you to take some time this week to learn a bit
more about mental health and help all Canadians win the fight against the stigma
associated with it. Together, we can create a mentally healthy Canada.