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Results: 61 - 75 of 1662
View Yves Perron Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you.
You talked about unfortunate and regrettable events that could happen if there were no regulation. Some producers might decide to take the law into their own hands.
Beyond that, I would also like you to talk about the mental health of producers.
Keith Currie
View Keith Currie Profile
Keith Currie
2021-05-25 16:42
By nature, farming or ranching is a stressful job because of all of the elements that are out of our control. However, when you pile on top of it the opportunity for activists to come on your property without permission to potentially not only endanger your buildings by breaking in but also affect all of your livestock either through bringing in a disease or simply letting them go.... Animals like mink don't typically do well out in the outdoor environment, so if you open up a barn at a mink farm and let them all go, they are not going to survive, yet the people who do that don't get charged with animal cruelty.
Sherry Baker
View Sherry Baker Profile
Sherry Baker
2021-05-25 12:21
Thank you, Madam Chair and honourable members of the standing committee, for the opportunity to contribute to the important work you are doing to study elder abuse in Canada.
I am proud to be able to describe to you the fine work being done in British Columbia to raise the awareness of abuse, neglect and self-neglect, and to help our communities find ways to prevent this.
The last two provincial governments have recognized that this issue is often hidden, little understood and extremely damaging to older and vulnerable adults throughout the province. For the last 10 years they have funded the work that our organizations are doing, and it is my distinct pleasure to have been involved since the beginning.
I have written a more detailed description of how the B.C. Association of Community Response Networks and the Council to Reduce Elder Abuse are organized to work towards reducing elder abuse by concentrating on supporting a local community response.
Here is just a sampling of the issues and remedies that you can consider. One, middle-aged children of aging parents find it difficult to help their growing families' needs. They see their parents with assets, and they think it would be good if they could have their inheritance before their parents die.
Two, when companies find themselves having to downsize or, as is happening during the COVID pandemic, having to lay off workers, many wage earners are finding themselves desperate and move back into their parents' home, often with children.
Three, immigrant families often bring older family members from their homeland to help look after the children. Sometimes these older adults are not provided with any freedom to create a safe life for themselves, which is further hindered by the inability to speak English or French.
Four, adding to the challenges of reconciliation, decolonization and the impact of residential schools, some of the older indigenous Canadians are also faced with pressure from their younger family members, who expect them to provide financial support to help them deal with their own issues.
I would like to list some of the ways that the federal government can play a role in reducing elder abuse.
First, it can understand that it is a systemic issue, and there is no quick fix.
When considering mandatory reporting, understand that most elder abuse is perpetrated by family members, and few parents will report or lay charges against their own child. This could have the effect of driving the abuse further underground.
As Krista James of the Canadian Centre for Elder Law said at the last hearing, abused adults don't want their family members to go to jail; “they just want the abuse to stop.”
It can provide support for law reform initiatives.
It can provide support for the key role played by the RCMP so they can respond effectively.
It can provide support for research projects, which help seniors live safely in their own homes.
It can provide support for research into what causes elder abuse.
It can provide support for safe and accessible housing projects for elders.
It can provide support for job creation and retraining for people trying to enter the workforce or dealing with being downsized or laid off.
It can provide support for training for frontline workers in institutions as well as in the community.
It can provide support for English as a second-language projects for immigrant seniors, along with other settlement services.
It can provide support for indigenous communities in developing safe and healthy housing for their families and elders.
It can provide support for mental health and addiction services, especially for families in crisis. No individual can be forced into therapy, so there needs to be supports in place to help them want to change.
It can provide support for the development of safe and accessible transition houses for older adults and allow a longer stay. In B.C. a woman can only stay for 30 days in a transition house.
It can provide support for the development of a national elder abuse strategy.
I've included a lot more information in the brief that I've submitted to you.
I look forward to answering your questions.
Thank you.
Michael Villeneuve
View Michael Villeneuve Profile
Michael Villeneuve
2021-05-20 14:47
Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members, for inviting the Canadian Nurses Association to share our perspectives on Bill C-30 and the 2021 federal budget.
I would like to acknowledge that I speak to you today from the ancestral unceded lands of the Algonquin Anishnabe peoples in eastern Ontario. My name is Mike Villeneuve and I am the CEO of the Canadian Nurses Association. I am joined today by my great colleague Aden Hamza, who is our policy lead.
Overall, the Canadian Nurses Association welcomes the important measures outlined in the budget to continue fighting COVID-19, to care for children, to protect older adults, to expand broadband Internet to support virtual care, and to tackle systemic racism. I will focus my remarks on key issues CNA has strongly been advocating throughout the pandemic and on how the budget addresses some of these concerns.
CNA has been calling for a larger national conversation around aging to identify the best models to support safe and dignified aging in Canada. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have all seen, and some have even experienced, the devastating effects of the virus for older adults and the way COVID-19 has put a spotlight on some well-known vulnerabilities in our health care systems.
In our pre-budget submission and advocacy, CNA urged the federal government to lead the development of pan-Canadian standards and to increase funding for long-term care. We're pleased to see a commitment of $3 billion to support provinces and territories in ensuring that standards for long-term care are applied, while respecting jurisdictions.
As referenced in the budget, the Health Standards Organization and Canadian Standards Association are launching a process to develop standards for long-term care. While CNA welcomes this work, of course, we do continue to urge the federal government to take a leadership role and to institute meaningful change by implementing measurable, actionable, and accountable standards to address the shocking outcomes we have seen.
Furthermore, although division 12 of part 4 of Bill C-30 provides an important emergency $4-billion top-up to the Canada health transfer, more funding is needed to meaningfully support the health and social needs of the largest generation of older people in our history. As we shared with this committee during pre-budget consultations, just the aging of our population will drive increases in health care spending by an additional $93 billion over the next decade. New dedicated funding is critical to enhance the ability of provinces and territories to invest in home care, community care, long-term care, palliative care and end-of-life care. That is why CNA continues to call on the government to implement a new demographic top-up to the Canada health transfer.
Finally, as nurses continue to fight COVID-19, CNA was pleased to see that budget 2021 pledged mental health supports dedicated to health care workers who are experiencing trauma due to COVID-19.
More than a year into the pandemic, and with many provinces facing a dangerous third wave this very day, nurses and other health care workers are facing critical fatigue and burnout. We have been hearing stories about nurses, physicians, and others planning to leave the profession, and we have seen major staffing issues in critical care units over the recent weeks across Canada. CNA is extremely concerned about nursing shortages and about how those could impact the health of Canadians going forward. A new health human resources plan led by the federal government will be crucial.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My colleague Aden and I will do our best to answer any questions. Thank you for including us.
View Peter Fragiskatos Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to all the witnesses.
Mr. Villeneuve and Ms. Hamza, it's very nice to see you both, again.
Mr. Villeneuve, in your testimony you spoke favourably about the budget and its focus on mental health.
I do remember your testimony many months ago, back in the fall, when you also spoke about the burnout that nurses were facing at that time as a result of COVID-19. You've mentioned it here again today.
In light of both of those things, I think it's especially positive that the budget does have this special focus on mental health and supports that would improve mental health services in Canada.
I do want to ask you a question about nursing, in general, as a profession right now. How worried are you about the problem of burnout as a result of COVID-19?
I am assuming, from your testimony, that it's only become worse in the past few months. Where do you see this going?
Aden Hamza
View Aden Hamza Profile
Aden Hamza
2021-05-20 15:37
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for the question.
We were, and continue to be, extremely concerned about the mental health of nurses. Throughout this third wave of the pandemic, we've seen a significant amount of stress due to the increased workload, the concern for personal and family safety, and the moral distress that nurses are experiencing. We're seeing a rising number of nursing vacancies across the country and we've been hearing a number of reports of nurses who may also plan to leave the profession due to burnout.
I think it's also worth mentioning that as we talk about recovery and the backlog that was mentioned earlier, we will need a healthy workforce to help relieve us of that treatment backlog. We are pleased to see the investments made to support nurses' and health care workers' mental health because, from what we're hearing, nurses right now are at a breaking point across the country.
Simon Telles
View Simon Telles Profile
Simon Telles
2021-05-18 14:36
Thank you very much.
I would like to thank all the members of the committee for inviting our organization to appear today. It is truly a pleasure for me to be with you. This is the first opportunity for our organization to be heard before you. I look forward to the opportunity to interact with you.
I would like to introduce myself. I am Simon Telles, president of Force Jeunesse. I have been involved with the organization for over four years. Coming out of a crisis like the one we've been experiencing for a little over a year, it's especially important to get involved.
Force Jeunesse is a nonprofit organization that was founded in the early 2000s to improve working conditions for young people, but the organization's mission has expanded greatly over time. It is made up of young volunteers, mainly between 18 and 35 years old, who come from different backgrounds. Some are young professionals in the health and education fields and others are students. In short, Force Jeunesse is a coalition of young volunteers who want to get involved and present concrete proposals to improve public policy.
Our mission hinges on three main axes: defending the rights and interests of youth, ensuring a certain intergenerational equity in public policy, and promoting youth engagement and the place of youth in decision-making spheres.
On a daily basis, we hear a lot of prejudice expressed about young people. In my experience, however, our youth are quite supportive, determined, and engaged.
It is true that, coming out of the COVID-19 crisis, our youth are weakened. Therefore, it is important to show special concern for them in all policy and program decisions put forward. One need only think of the very significant job losses experienced by young people, who often work in more precarious fields. In addition, compared to the rest of the population, youth have much more worrisome mental health indicators and higher rates of psychological distress. In short, young people already face many barriers in their daily lives, and these are even higher for minority youth. The crisis we just went through only accentuates these inequalities.
We are not experts on all the areas addressed in the federal budget, but we looked at it through the lens of intergenerational equity. There were four items that particularly resonated with us, and those are what I'm going to talk about today. They are mental health, federal health transfers, the environment and climate change, and finally housing.
Let's start with mental health.
As I mentioned in the introduction, young people have been particularly affected. So we are pleased to see that the budget has provided $100 million over three years for those most affected by COVID-19, including youth. The challenge now will be to get that money on the ground quickly and to increase access to psychological health care for young people, because that's what we're finding to be most lacking right now.
What we are concerned about is that youth group insurance, whether for students or workers, determines whether or not a young person has access to mental health care. For us, this situation is not acceptable. We must find solutions that will guarantee all young Canadians access to mental health care.
Many proposals are possible, but the one we favour is universal access to psychotherapy. In Quebec, we already have access to universal drug coverage. In Canada, we have access to universal health care almost everywhere. For us, it would be completely consistent and logical for mental health care to also be covered for all Quebeckers and all Canadians.
The second topic that is of great concern to us is the issue of federal health transfers.
This topic has been the subject of much discussion in the news over the past few months. We note that across the country, the population is aging and health care costs are rising faster than other government spending and the economy. In addition, the COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated the situation and exposed the vulnerabilities of our health care system. Additional investments in health transfers are therefore urgently needed.
We note that health care spending is placing increasing pressure on provincial public finances. The federal government's share of funding for the system is declining, because the growth in federal transfers is not keeping pace with the growth in provincial health spending. We are therefore disappointed that the budget did not provide for an increase in health transfers, even though this is a unanimous demand from all provinces. There are few issues that bring us together to this extent, but this is one of them.
This is a real issue of intergenerational equity. You might think that young people are less concerned about health because, statistically, they have fewer health problems, but it's quite the opposite. If we don't take steps now to ensure that the health care system is adequately funded, it is our generation that will be faced with agonizing choices later on. Access to health care is one of the foundations of our social model.
The other topic I'm happy to talk about is the environment and fighting climate change.
When young people are asked what issues matter most to them, the environment and fighting climate change often come out on top. That really resonates with me. So we're very pleased to see that in the federal budget, a significant amount of funding has been dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. There is a $5 billion investment over seven years. This is a step in the right direction.
That said, we believe even more needs to be done, particularly to reduce greenhouse gases, but more importantly to put in place eco-tax measures that will truly change consumer behaviour. In our view, we need to subject pollution to consequences, largely financial, and ensure greater accountability of stakeholders and polluters, whether consumers, citizens or businesses.
Finally, the last topic I would like to address with you in a general way is the issue of housing.
We are facing a real shortage of affordable housing just about everywhere in Quebec, and this phenomenon is not limited to the big cities as one might think. It affects young people in the job market particularly, because they generally have a slightly lower income at the beginning of their career. We find that the portion of their budget that goes to housing is continually increasing, which impacts other aspects of their lives and other equally basic needs.
We believe that the overheated housing market is jeopardizing the ability to afford home ownership. Young people can no longer afford home ownership, or they have to wait much longer than their parents to do so. So it's also an issue of intergenerational equity.
We find it interesting that the government, in its budget, has proposed a 1% tax to reduce foreign speculation in the market. On the other hand, for us, this is not the crux of the issue. It is a measure, but it is not the most important one. What the government should be doing is building more affordable housing, helping young people get into home ownership through tax credits and subsidies, directly assisting young people who are most in need and don't have enough income to adequately house themselves, and most importantly, rethinking programs to make sure they meet the objectives.
One example I can give you is the famous HBP, the Home Buyers' Plan, which allows young people to withdraw a certain amount from their RRSPs as a down payment for their first home. Intuitively, we tend to think that this is an interesting measure, but most young people have not yet accumulated enough money in their RRSPs. So it is a measure that is available, but it only helps a small portion of the population. We thus need to find direct ways to make housing more accessible for all young people.
Of course, in its strategy, the government really needs to ask whether every person who needs housing assistance is actually receiving assistance. What we see in the budget right now is that there are several blind spots, and we think there should be more help.
There also needs to be more federal collaboration, in our view, with provincial and municipal governments to ensure that efforts are coordinated, to avoid duplication, and to ensure that no one is left behind.
In conclusion, we find it very interesting that the government is assessing the intergenerational impact of each of the measures in the budget. For us, this is a very inspiring exercise, because it makes us aware of the impact of our decisions on future generations. Provinces and municipalities should even take a similar approach.
That said, to make the exercise even more interesting, rather than simply identifying the target population, i.e., whether the measure is aimed at youth or seniors, we should ask what the real impact of the measures put in place is on intergenerational equity. We believe that this would allow us to go even further and implement more structuring and sustainable measures.
I'll close by saying that we young people want to contribute to the work of commissions, committees, and decision-making entities in general. Please feel free to consult with us in advance of the various programs. It will always be our pleasure to contribute to the work of the committee.
Thank you for listening. I remain available, should you have more specific questions.
View Peter Fragiskatos Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you, Chair.
I'll have to go back to the record afterwards. I think I heard Ms. Jansen say that she may not be voting in favour of the budget, which stunned me a great deal. I think we're all very surprised by that.
I would also point Ms. Jansen and Conservative colleagues, if they wish to take a look, to the most recent data, which has regularly for the past several weeks put Canada in the very top tier—either first some days, second other days, third other days, but no worse than third—in the G20 for vaccinations per day being administered.
It's really something that I think needs to be corrected here. Yes, we can do better, of course, but we're doing extremely well right now. The effect of that rhetoric, Chair, is that it generates a sense of concern and I would say even fear that is not well placed. If we're going to be seized with issues at this committee, let's focus on the facts rather than contribute to these myths that opposition colleagues have been peddling recently.
It's a different issue altogether, but we've seen what has happened with Bill C-10, concerning which Facebook has been alive and well with conspiracy theories about censorship in recent weeks, and we all know they're not true.
I will, however, focus on the issue at hand here, Chair. I just wanted to put those points of view on the record.
Mr. Telles, thank you very much for representing youth here today. Thank you very much for being an advocate.
Ms. Dzerowicz took my question, unfortunately, which was to ask you about student debt. It was great to see that there were a number of measures put in place in budget 2021 to help students with debt. That matters a lot for me, because prior to taking on the role of a member of Parliament, I taught at Western for a number of years, where I saw students really impacted in such negative ways by student debt.
What I also saw was the mental health challenges that young people faced. I think we all know—we've heard the stories in our own communities—about the way the pandemic has exacerbated that challenge for young people. Could you speak to that? I know the budget provides a very sizable investment for mental health in this country and for improved services.
Simon Telles
View Simon Telles Profile
Simon Telles
2021-05-18 15:33
Thank you so much for the question.
I would like to clarify that the assistance given to students was very welcome. However, the young people in the workforce, fresh out of college, seem to have been forgotten. In our view, this is the blind spot in the budget.
With respect to mental health, there is already a lot of awareness and taboos are being broken more and more, which is very positive. However, when young people ask for help, they are told that the waiting lists are long and access to professionals is difficult. I'm talking about the public system, of course. When they finally get help, their therapy is terminated after a few sessions, even though they still have needs, because the number of sessions is limited. Public access to psychotherapy is truly deficient. Additional support to improve funding for the public system would be more than welcome.
The other concern we have is that access to the private network is limited to young people who have insurance that covers psychotherapy, through their education or employment. We need to find a way to make that care available to all young people, whether they have insurance or not, and that's where provincial and federal governments can play an important role in increasing accessibility to care.
View Monique Pauzé Profile
BQ (QC)
First, I would like to thank all the witnesses for being here.
This bill was introduced before Christmas but it took a lot of time for the government to fit it into the agenda. So everyone had to “turn on a dime”, as they say.
Like Mr. Saini, I am going to ask questions about health, because it's an area that interests me greatly.
My question goes to Dr. Claudel Pétrin-Desrosiers.
We have talked a lot about physical health, but climate change is also creating problems with mental health and psychological distress. I would like to hear your comments on that.
You would certainly wonder about me if I did not ask a question about the pandemic. Can you explain the links between climate change, disturbances in the ecosystems, and the risk of future pandemics?
Claudel Pétrin-Desrosiers
View Claudel Pétrin-Desrosiers Profile
Claudel Pétrin-Desrosiers
2021-05-17 16:55
Thank you for your questions, Ms. Pauzé.
Let me answer the second one, which we have already dealt with a little. We need to understand that the environmental disturbances are many. They include the degradation of natural habitats, climate change, intensive land use and deforestation. They all have impacts on the habitats in which insects or other transmission vectors live. We are in the process of bringing humans dangerously close to sources of infection.
The most recent great viral infections, Ebola and COVID-19, are diseases that are basically spread by animal zoonotic transmission chains. The disturbances are becoming more serious more quickly, which increases the risk that incidents like those will be repeated. The future is difficult to predict, but, in a way, we are playing Russian roulette. We are taking unnecessary risks with our health.
The World Health Organization and a number of UN bodies have, in recent months, recognized that environmental disturbances played a role in the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
I will let Dr. Howard tell you more about your first question, on mental health, because she has done research on the topic. Troubling mental health phenomena do occur in the context of climate change, specifically because we lose our natural reference points. We talk a lot about people feeling disconnected from their homes, their ancestral territory. But we also know that extreme climate events like hurricanes, floods and forest fires create stress.
Studies done in Quebec by public health agencies reveal that those who have gone through episodes of spring flooding subsequently show higher rates of anxiety and depression. Some even develop posttraumatic stress disorder. Of course, issues like that concern us.
Our young people are wondering what their future will be like. I am one of those young people wondering what kind of environment our future children are going to grow up in. It creates a kind of anxiety called ecoanxiety that psychiatrists, physicians and psychologists are studying a lot at the moment, in an attempt to find out the extent of the phenomenon.
These are certainly troubling questions, the more so because, over the last year, a lot of people have been isolated. There has been a lot of talk about mental health and we know that the issues are critical.
Mathieu Robitaille
View Mathieu Robitaille Profile
Mathieu Robitaille
2021-05-13 11:53
COVID-19 has definitely had a major impact on seniors; you need only consider the isolation they're forced into.
I've been in this occupation for about 20 years. However, in the past two years, for the first time, I've had to urge seniors to stay at home. We usually have to encourage them to get out, to engage in outdoor activities, to talk to people and to build a social network. Two years later, the effort that some seniors have made in this area will have to be started over from scratch.
One of the consequences of isolation is that people have less and less contact with others. Consequently, any mental health or other problems they may have will worsen. People then become more fragile.
Problems have definitely increased, even among the clientele I've observed to date.
Crystal Garrett-Baird
View Crystal Garrett-Baird Profile
Crystal Garrett-Baird
2021-05-12 17:10
It's a mental health service dog.
View John McKay Profile
Lib. (ON)
Colleagues, that brings us to the end of the third round. We have about 20 minutes available for these very excellent witnesses. My proposal would be another three- or four-minute round for each of the parties. In the meantime, while you're making up your minds, and if you could communicate with the clerk on that, I would just take the opportunity to ask a question or two on my own.
All of you have extraordinary experiences as investigators. What has struck me with a lot of these organizations is, if you will, the borderline mental illness of some of the people they would be conducting investigations on—paranoia, disassociation from reality, conspiracies, all that sort of stuff. I'd be interested in your thoughts as to what element in your investigations actually is possibly mental illness of some kind or another?
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