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Results: 121 - 135 of 342
View Darren Fisher Profile
Lib. (NS)
Thank you for that.
This will probably run out my time, but as a parent I think about this a lot. Many parents wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a child just having a bad day and a child going through mental distress.
We talk about the virtual learning. We talk about Zoom life. As members of this committee, we all live on Zoom. We live in rooms with bad chairs and we live with bad lighting and bad backgrounds, but when we think about our children, this virtual learning is not working. I shouldn't say it's not working, but sometimes it's not working. My son did the first semester but wasn't willing to go back for the second semester and won't go back to school now until it's in person, because they're missing out on that quality of life, that touch, as the professor said earlier.
What are the signs that parents and guardians should look for when they're seeing a young person who may or may not just be having a bad day?
Katherine Hay
View Katherine Hay Profile
Katherine Hay
2021-01-29 13:41
We need to remember that mental health did not begin with COVID. The things that worked for you before as a parent, teacher or community member are really important to put at the forefront now. Watch for a young person's change in behaviour. More isolation, distress or even overamplification of cheerfulness could be an indicator.
My best advice—it's Kathy Hay advice, not professional advice—is to be actively involved with your young person or a young person in your life. Watch what's going on. Don't assume everything is okay, because if you're feeling the stress of COVID, which we all are, I can assure you that young people are feeling it even more.
If I could put one final note forward, I would ask people in communities to please watch out for young people, because abuse is increasing. Kids are in homes that might not necessarily have been safe before, but they would have received support in their schools or community environments, which aren't available to them now. Keep your eyes open. Kids Help Phone does mandatory reports every day, and we work with young people and parents in those environments.
View Luc Thériault Profile
BQ (QC)
View Luc Thériault Profile
2021-01-29 13:43
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank all the witnesses for their contributions. This gives us food for thought and helps us find solutions to better manage these types of situations created by the pandemic.
Dr. Veissière, I first want to address the issue of psychosocial consequences as collateral damage of the pandemic.
Throughout our meetings, witnesses have warned us about the collateral damage of the pandemic, particularly for patients who don't have COVID-19. This includes offloading, late screening and cancellation of surgery. Without exaggeration, we can expect to see cases where, as a side effect, COVID-19 will result in the death of some patients or will have a very serious impact on their health, in addition to their mental health.
Last week, when you participated in a consultation conducted by the Quebec government, you clearly stated that, as part of the collateral damage of COVID-19, the psychosocial impact on the mental health of families was among the missing pieces of information that we would need to address.
Could you elaborate on this? If you feel inspired, could you give us some solutions?
Samuel Veissière
View Samuel Veissière Profile
Samuel Veissière
2021-01-29 13:44
Thank you for the question. I'll respond in English.
It's an excellent question.
As you point out, we strongly suspect that excess mortality has been a problem. Excess mortality in turn is likely associated with a further psychosocial or mental health toll on those families negatively impacted by missed surgeries or by increased mortality not related to COVID or related to cancellation of hospital services.
The one dimension that is closest to my own area of expertise that I do want to speak on as well in terms of missing data is that there's a dire need for better evidence-based research on the impact of isolation, increased screen time and virtual and distance learning on the psychosocial emotional development of youth and on their mental health.
The last thing I also wanted to mention in response to the previous question—what can we do to help our youth?—is that we knew before the pandemic that the figures were alarming and that our youth are in distress. There's a confluence of factors that contribute to the increased erosion of resilience among younger people. One of them is increased screen time. We know this from the research.
What I would like to implore our government to do, because we cannot rely on big tech companies to do this for us, is to, at some point, treat screen time like a controlled substance—like tobacco, cannabis or alcohol, substances that we know negatively impact development—and have clear, evidence-based guidelines for its regulation.
In the short term, we can also communicate those guidelines, through family physicians and through our educators, for responsible screen time and responsible screen use. This, many of us in the community believe, is a public health emergency. It already was before the pandemic, and it is considerably worse now.
Thank you for your question.
View Luc Thériault Profile
BQ (QC)
View Luc Thériault Profile
2021-01-29 13:47
Yes. What does responsible screen time mean to you? In what context does it apply?
We're currently in a pandemic situation. As a result, virtual consultations are the preferred option. I imagine that, in your practice, this has certain advantages, but also disadvantages. You're in the process of compiling the differences that you're seeing on a therapeutic level. There are limits to what you can do when you meet with a patient virtually rather than in person.
In general, what could you say about these guidelines? In what situations should remote consultations be the preferred option? Can this practice be expanded? Will this create side effects or side issues?
Samuel Veissière
View Samuel Veissière Profile
Samuel Veissière
2021-01-29 13:48
Thank you for the question.
I think it's important to point out that the work done by Ms. Hay, for example, is wonderful, and it is needed. There is in fact research showing that tele-therapy can confer some benefits for some patients who might otherwise have mobility or accessibility issues. It's important to continue to focus on these strategies. However, it's important to focus on prevention strategies as well. If we know that over one quarter of our youth prior to the pandemic required mental health care, this is a sign that our society is broken, in some sense. We need to focus on the strategies so that they do not need those services. Of course, those services are great, but hopefully people would be healthier.
Less screen time and more face-to-face activity would be better, as would good regulations for the amount of screen time on a developmental schedule, such as zero screen time for youth under six and then up to one hour a day with supervision, but also good guidelines for the kinds of content people consume and the kinds used. For example, we know that active communication with loved ones with social media is good. It's associated with increased well-being. Passive, mindless scrolling of anxiogenic information is not good.
There are plenty of those guidelines, but unfortunately, as I expressed to the National Assembly of Quebec last week, most of the protective factors that we can recommend do not presently apply under the current public health guidelines, which we know are required to protect our vulnerable population. However, moving toward, focused protection strategies targeting different groups with different risk factors where we know that young people really need these opportunities to connect, in particular in school and in universities, has also become an emergency.
Jean Johnson
View Jean Johnson Profile
Jean Johnson
2021-01-28 16:54
Mr. Chair, members of the committee, may I thank you for inviting the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada, the FCFA, to appear today. We have much to tell you about the subject you are studying. The COVID-19 crisis is having a major impact on francophone and Acadian communities. It is shaking our Francophonie to its very foundations and it will be felt for years. I will address two aspects of the impact in the time I have been given.
First of all, let us talk about the effect on the Francophonie's networking and affiliation. Last fall, the FCFA conducted a survey in which 247 francophone organizations and institutions across the country participated. After that survey, we conducted 25 interviews with respondents. Let me quickly provide you with some preliminary data that emerged from the study.
First, only 57% of the responding organizations have been able to maintain their services to the public. In fact, 78% of them have lost some or all of their volunteers. While 60% have lost some income, one organization in three has lost between 11% and 30% of its income. Actually, local organizations providing direct services to energize the Francophonie have seen the greatest losses. The result has been that 18% of them have had to lay off staff.
So what access do those organizations now have to government assistance? The encouraging news is that, of the 53% that applied, 91% have received support. However, not all the organizations received assistance that met their needs. More specifically, small organizations with few employees or little in the way of operational expenses have had to cancel their activities and plans and were unable to receive assistance.
So what are their prospects for recovery? Ten per cent of the responding organizations stated that their future is uncertain or that they face imminent closure. That number is particularly high in New Brunswick, Alberta and British Columbia, and among youth and media organizations and ethnocultural groups.
So what, specifically, are the needs of those organizations? Let me give you three. First, they need support in order to get through the crisis and to make up for their losses in income. Then they need support for transformation because things will no longer be as they were before. This means managing the change, facilities, new equipment and training for staff and volunteers. Finally, they need flexibility from funding agencies so that amounts can be reallocated and the approach to accountability can be tailored.
Those are the measurable effects, but the crisis has a consequence whose extent is only just beginning to be sensed: the loss of vitality of the French language and the francophone presence across the country.
Our kids spent months out of school in the spring of 2020 and, at this very moment, a number of them are once more attending school remotely. Extracurricular activities have almost all been cancelled. Festivals and gatherings where the young and the not-so-young can jointly experience life in French, no longer take place.
We just have to think about the Jeux de la francophonie canadienne, or about the myriad of other activities in the youth network. Those activities play a fundamental role in building the identity of young francophones and in training the leaders of the Francophonie. I cannot stress enough the potentially disastrous consequences of the lack of opportunity for our kids to come together in French.
The closing of cultural and community centres because of the pandemic means that communities no longer have any space to come together in French. As I told you earlier, the centres and organizations that stimulate life in French in our communities have lost their volunteers and their customers. They are going to need all kinds of time to repair that loss of relationships, that loss of vitality.
The phenomenon is yet to be studied, but we are already hearing accounts from worried parents. They are actually telling us that, for six months, their children have been using English more often at home or in their online dealings with their friends. The FCFA is in the process of working with partner organizations to try to better define this problem, which we see as a major one.
Mr. Chair, members of the committee, the Francophonie is being shaken. Like other aspects of Canadian society, we will need years to recover from the impacts of the pandemic.
Let me conclude by providing you with some recommendations that stem from the observations we have just described to you. First, it is essential to maintain access to emergency funding until the pandemic ends. It has allowed groups in our communities to maintain activities and staff as well as to compensate for fundraising campaigns that the organizations have not been able to undertake. The conditions that make that emergency funding necessary will remain the same for as long as the pandemic lasts.
Second, it is important for federal institutions that support our community organizations to tailor their program criteria and their expected outcomes. Because of the circumstances, our organizations and institutions do not have the capacity to meet the same requirements as before the pandemic, or at least, certainly not in the same way.
Finally, although emergency funds are essential, they only let us keep the lights on. More will be needed in order for us to reestablish our core. The financial losses incurred by our organizations bring with them alarming damage, such as the collapse of our pool of volunteers that drive our communities forward, and the severing of the direct ties to the community that had been cultivated with patience and determination.
The vitality of the French language and presence at local level will require significant catch-up. That is why the government should establish an assistance fund for the recovery of the Francophonie. The funding would be flexible, so that specific needs can be addressed. We mentioned several of them previously: tailoring our services and activities, training volunteers and staff, and buying equipment so that services can be provided in a different form.
Thank you. I look forward to answering your questions.
View Laurel Collins Profile
NDP (BC)
View Laurel Collins Profile
2021-01-28 17:22
That's wonderful.
In the last hour before you joined us, I had mentioned that I am coming to you from Victoria, which is the homeland of the Lekwungen-speaking people, the Esquimalt and Songhees first nations.
We have the Aboriginal Coalition to End Homelessness, and they do culturally supportive and low-barrier access to affordable housing. It seems so important right now.
I know a lot of individuals who have experienced homelessness have previously experienced child welfare. I am just curious about your thoughts about what could support young indigenous peoples who might be aging out of care, and I'm thinking about a guaranteed basic livable income and how that might help youth homelessness and indigenous youth.
Elizabeth Sam
View Elizabeth Sam Profile
Elizabeth Sam
2021-01-28 17:23
I have never been in care or anything like that, but while I was in Victoria, I did an internship with the B.C. government's indigenous youth internship program, and that's how I got with the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs on the second part of the internship.
In the first part I was working at MCFD, actually, in Victoria, at a provincial office. I helped to chair a meeting with the youth who were in care, and then I have some friends in Vancouver who have been in care their whole lives and they've aged out. They're artists and singers.
Laurel, with me, it all comes down to healing. You're not going to be able to live a healthy life and get a house and do anything like that if you don't heal what is harming you—so more healing programs for the youth and more supports.
Natasha Kim
View Natasha Kim Profile
Natasha Kim
2021-01-27 17:48
Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee, for asking us to join you today.
We are here today to update you on measures that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada is taking to support Hong Kong residents, including youth, to come to Canada.
As you are aware, the Government of Canada has joined the international community in expressing its concerns over China's imposition of new national security legislation on Hong Kong.
On November 12, 2020, Minister Mendicino, in response to the situation, announced new immigration measures. These included measures to encourage Hong Kong youth to choose Canada as a place to study, work and settle, given the skills and education that many of them would bring to support our economy.
Let me note that Canada already has an extensive array of pathways that Hong Kong residents can use to come to Canada either temporarily or permanently, including for work, to study, for permanent immigration or for family reunification.
In addition to the existing options, the department is implementing a new initiative specific to Hong Kong youth, which will provide open work permits of up to three years, with eligibility centred on post-secondary education obtained in Canada or abroad. IRCC is working hard to ensure that this measure will be available in early 2021 to applicants from Hong Kong who are both in Canada and abroad.
In addition, the department is creating two new pathways to permanent residence, available later this year, for those who come under the first initiative or who are already in Canada and have been working or studying.
The first pathway will target former Hong Kong residents who have gained a minimum of one year of authorized work experience in Canada and who meet other criteria, such as minimum language and education levels.
The second pathway will benefit those who have graduated from a post-secondary institution in Canada. These individuals will be able to apply directly for permanent residence and will not require work experience.
In addition to these new measures, Canada is also introducing measures such as priority processing of documents for Canadian citizens and Canadian permanent residents in Hong Kong and allocating resources to speed up processing of applications, including family sponsorship.
We do, however, understand the impact that the current border restrictions could have on when some groups are able to travel.
For Hong Kong residents already in Canada on a temporary basis, we are waiving application processing fees for those who apply to renew their status in order to extend their stay here.
I would also like to note that Hong Kong residents who are already in Canada continue to have access to our asylum system, including to make their case to the Immigration and Refugee Board.
Given the change in circumstances in Hong Kong, we have also eliminated the 12-month PRRA bar, the pre-removal risk assessment bar, for Hong Kong nationals. Under normal circumstances, individuals who received a negative decision on their refugee claim would not be eligible to apply for a PRRA for at least 12 months.
Finally, Madam Chair, I should note that individuals who flee Hong Kong and fear persecution may be referred to Canada for resettlement by the United Nations refugee agency or may be privately sponsored.
As per the 1951 refugee convention and Canadian legislation, foreign nationals need to be outside their home country to be eligible for our resettlement program. As a result, we cannot accept asylum claims at the mission in the country of alleged persecution. This is consistent with the international legal framework that takes into account state sovereignty.
However, to complement resettlement efforts, Canada—like other countries—relies on diplomatic and international aid efforts to support those in need around the globe.
Moreover, it is important to note that those facing persecution can also avail themselves of regular immigration pathways, if they are able to.
View Leah Gazan Profile
NDP (MB)
Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to thank both of the witnesses, Tina Stevens and Andrea Jibb, for being here.
My first question is a follow-up to you, Andrea, and your comments about the child welfare system.
In my riding, many of the individuals who are experiencing homelessness are from the child welfare system. They are aging directly out of care into poverty and homelessness. We have almost 11,000 kids in care right now, mostly indigenous. My numbers could be wrong; it may be even higher than that.
We've certainly reached a crisis during COVID. We know there are a number of kids in care who received the CERB, and who are now mobilizing together to ask for CERB amnesty. I support them in those efforts.
Do you believe a guaranteed livable basic income would prevent homelessness for kids aging out of care, particularly, if they were provided with housing where they could choose between greater independence or housing with more supports?
Andrea Jibb
View Andrea Jibb Profile
Andrea Jibb
2021-01-26 17:18
Yes, a livable income is crucial to ensuring that indigenous homelessness for youth aging out of care does not reach epidemic proportions.
In our team, we often talk about Jordan's principle, and everyone, I'm sure, knows Jordan's principle. It's to address the inequities faced by indigenous children on reserve. We need something like Jordan's principle to truly address indigenous homelessness. We need funding, so that people can have first and last month's rent.
In a community like London, we face levels of housing insecurity and rent costs that are similar to Toronto and Vancouver. It is just not sustainable for people, let alone youth who are aging out of care, to get their own apartment in a way that feels safe for them. We know indigenous youth may not feel safe in a rooming house, or in certain styles of apartments in certain locations in the city where they would be able to afford it.
View Luc Thériault Profile
BQ (QC)
View Luc Thériault Profile
2020-12-07 11:46
You said the message has to be much clearer, more perceptible and comprehensible, for measures to be appropriate, effective and efficient. There are differences in the way the age groups comply with health measures.
What might be an effective message to send to people both over and under 25 years of age?
Based on past experience, people will definitely let their guard down as the holidays approach.
Kim Lavoie
View Kim Lavoie Profile
Kim Lavoie
2020-12-07 11:47
That's an excellent question.
It reminds us that people don't comply with health restrictions for the same reasons. What concerns young people doesn't concern older people. Young people are asked to make greater sacrifices than the ones I'm asked to make.
Telling young people not to go to university, not to see their friends and not to go out with boys or girls at this time in their lives is a lot to ask. You have to understand what motivates people and what young people's concerns are. We need a specific approach and messages targeting those people to make them understand that, if they comply with health restrictions, their social lives, university and jobs will all come back.
I think what they hear focuses too much on protecting the health of their families, the elderly and the sick. That doesn't resonate with young people. The message needs to be changed.
View Tony Van Bynen Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I offer a special thank you as well to our witnesses for sharing their experiences and their expertise with us.
I was happy to hear Dr. Kurdyak talk about the importance of accurate data. I think it is critically important that we do have this new infrastructure, so that we are making sure that we're doing the right things as much as we are making sure we're doing things right. That's a very critical decision point that we need to give some consideration to.
We certainly are facing a harsh narrative, but the situation itself is very harsh. We're facing an unprecedented pandemic, so it's important for us to be strategic and surgical in the way we approach things.
My first question is to Dr. Kurdyak. I recently met with members of our youth council, and during introductions I asked each of them to outline the areas of concern to them. As you can imagine, most of them said mental health.
It is my understanding that CAMH has recently released a report outlining the results of a survey on youth mental health in Ontario. Could you please share with the committee some of the findings of the survey and, based on these findings, what some of your recommendations would be?
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