Status of Women committee  Yes, absolutely. That's actually a big part of our model. We find that a lot of youth—two-thirds of our staff—who come through the clubs end up working in the clubs. We have 7,000 staff across the country, and two-thirds of them are youth, most of whom have come up through the club and go on to other careers in the community.

Status of Women committee  Yes. In fact, we met with the minister early in her mandate and had this conversation, including the push for mental health first aid, because we saw the need early on. I think we've seen some positive responses, some openness to this structure. Ultimately, we would like to see the funds flow faster.

Status of Women committee  At this point, I think we're looking for some of the structure of what it would be that we could actually apply for, in cases where we might fit. Other parts of the system may have access to some grants that don't apply to us, but we don't yet have a stream of funding that makes sense for the work we do or that we'd be eligible for.

Status of Women committee  We know that there were pilots that ended early. They were interesting to watch. We were very curious about the outcomes of those in terms of the changes they might make in the lives of those families—especially how they impacted youth. I think we would still be interested in seeing how those go.

Status of Women committee  It's absolutely beneficial that we're speaking about it. Earlier we were talking about Stuart Shanker and the regulation capacity. We're having this conversation with youth from the day they enter the clubs, because we need them to understand how to emotionally regulate. If they can understand and have those conversations and be comfortable with that language early on, they will do better in their outcomes with social interactions, academia and everything else.

Status of Women committee  I think everything Gordon said is absolutely true. I'm impressed with what I see in schools. I'd also add that we're adding new burdens into an under-resourced sector. I come from a family of teachers. There has always been the challenge of what else they need to do in the day, aside from deliver on the curriculum.

Status of Women committee  Do you mean as a major factor in terms of the mental health challenge they have from that?

Status of Women committee  I don't know where it fits, but it's a big factor. The reason I don't know is that we haven't asked the question specifically of what they think about that. Too often, kids who come from underprivileged homes or homes where there's a single parent take on a burden that is like that of an adult at a very young age.

Status of Women committee  Again, this is anecdotal. What I've heard are issues like they won't be able to have a family because there won't be a world to have that family in, or the inability to do anything meaningful to change the course of this or to see meaningful change being made on their behalf. It's about feeling helpless in the face of a crisis, which I think is the same in a pandemic.

Status of Women committee  I'm not qualified to answer that and I'm not sure what the answer should be. We are very much in the business of addressing what I think of as the frontline mental health crisis and giving every young person the opportunities they deserve and need. I don't think I could answer your question directly at all in terms of understanding what I think is the ultimate question, unfortunately, of what mental health supports could or might be.

Status of Women committee  That is a big question. I think counteracting that requires a societal response and an educational response. We've talked about policy responses that are to help young Canadians better control.... First of all, it's to require permission to do what they do online to some degree.

Status of Women committee  The answer to that question is interesting, because before the pandemic we did a survey of our youth to ask what issues were most impacting them and what they were concerned about. We talked about poverty and employment, which all came up to the very top. The topmost one at the time was, in fact, mental health.

Status of Women committee  Thank you for the question. With regard to the data I was referring to, I didn't speak specifically to suicide rates. We do know that suicide rates, and I don't have the data for that specifically.... However, we do have the data that young women report at twice the rate of young men understanding their own mental health as being fair to poor—so not great—and obviously that leads to suicide rates.

Status of Women committee  We're more than on board. We've been asking kids to identify their emotions. Dysregulation is a challenge for children when they come in after school, so it has been something the clubs have worked on forever. To your point about programs, a lot of what we realize is that children don't engage in formal or traditional mental health programs.

Status of Women committee  I wish I could say I had data. Unfortunately, we don't. We have multiple anecdotes, and multiple anecdotes don't make data, but we have multiple anecdotes of families who are reporting increased stress. We're hearing it from the kids. So, whether it's Amy Terrill at the Kawartha Lakes club or clubs across the country....