Finance committee  I think you hit it right on the head when you said that one size does not fit all. Mental illness is like a physical illness: the way it impacts me and the way it impacts you could be two different things, and we might need different medications. One challenge we have seen is that there are new medications coming on the market that are much more effective for certain people.

Finance committee  That's really an appropriate question and I thank you for asking it. There are a couple of things I have to add to Michel's comments. Number one, the indicators are based a lot of times on billing codes, which differ from province to province. Doctors bill in different codes across different provinces.

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. While professional help is very necessary, it's not always available at 8 p.m. or midnight. I talked about peer support and the importance of supporting that across Canada. In 2013, Mood Disorders Society of Canada signed a five-year contribution agreement with the Government of Canada, and with project partners the Mental Health Commission of Canada and the University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and honourable members, for the opportunity for the Mood Disorders Society of Canada to take part in this important meeting and to provide our comments to the committee. Since 2001, MDSC has worked to help people with mental illness improve their quality of life.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'll just add one thing to it. Speaking of family physicians, you have to remember that family physicians have a business to run as well, and they've only got a limited amount of time to see a patient. We have found that there are a lot of family physicians who don't know all of the resources that are available in the community and therefore cannot take a patient and say, “Hey, listen, you have to go down to this group over here and go meet with them because they have some services down there that would really support you.”

Veterans Affairs committee  There's a program in the United States; twenty-two veterans a day are taking their own lives. We have to change this and we have to do it with some concrete steps.

Veterans Affairs committee  Can I add to that really quickly? In the last few months, we brought people from across Canada to Perth to take this project trauma support, and they've already gone back to their communities and created four different peer support programs. Right now I'm working with True Patriot Love.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'd be happy to send you our PTSD ask, so there you go. There's a good answer. There's some meat in the oven for supper.

Veterans Affairs committee  It's a start. It's bringing everything together and it's starting the ball forward. We can sit around and talk about this, but I wouldn't be doing my job if I wasn't sitting here saying that we need to throw some money at this right now. People are losing their lives.

Veterans Affairs committee  Absolutely not. I am completely against fee-for-service services, to tell you the truth. I developed a program many years ago because of people in our community not being able to access services, just for that reason. Our programs are funded by the federal government. We're a very collaborative organization.

Veterans Affairs committee  It's very unhelpful, and it can set them back a long time. I've had some veterans tell me that they went to see a psychiatrist for a year, and they were being completely honest and completely open, but it was only through the peer support that they really started to understand, being in a group setting with other veterans, that they were talking about things that weren't the root of the issues.

Veterans Affairs committee  I might just start the ball rolling as far as a reply is concerned. I have the honour of sitting on the Minister of Veterans Affairs' advisory panel for mental health, and part of his mandate letter was to create a centre of excellence, one focusing on mental health, and also to address suicide within the veteran and military population.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you. About 70% of adults living with a mental illness have onset before the age of 18. We know that early intervention can reduce the severity of the illness. For chronic conditions, research indicates that many youth experience symptoms of their illness between the ages of 12 and 17 years.

Health committee  I was diagnosed with PTSD in 1990 after I was hit by a car. It took me eight years to acknowledge that I had a mental illness. It took me a lot more years after that to go for treatment. My treatment of choice was not marijuana. At that time, it was alcohol. It wasn't because I wanted to get high or anything like that.

Health committee  Yes.