Honourable senators, I rise today in recognition of Mental Health Week, which was held from May 6 to 12.

During this week, a number of us came together to learn about mental health literacy with students from St. Paul High School. The event was facilitated by Andrew Baxter from Alberta Health Services with the support of the Senate communications team and Youth Ottawa.

We participated in activities and discussions about mental health literacy, which includes understanding how to achieve and maintain mental health, understanding mental illness and their treatments, decreasing stigma and enhancing help-seeking efficacy.

This event was designed to empower and educate youth, to go beyond awareness, to take purposeful action building on the foundation of mental health literacy.

In Canada, we have been working towards raising mental health awareness for the past 20 years. This has resulted in some positive outcomes. However, the major challenge that confronted us then still confronts us. We have much work to do to improve rapid access to effective mental health care.

The rates of mental illness have remained relatively unchanged. We have not yet learned how to prevent mental illnesses, although when effective treatments are applied early, it is now possible to improve the health outcomes of many.

Multimillions of dollars have been raised for mental health awareness and have been spent on numerous initiatives across Canada. The return on this spending has not been robust and access to care has not significantly improved.

Our understanding of the causes of mental disorders has not sufficiently progressed, and effective treatments for mental illnesses have not substantially improved.

So what can be done? I have two suggestions that might help.

First, we must invest in research and the development of innovative and effective treatments that lead to better mental health outcomes. Second, we need to enhance the mental health literacy of all Canadians. By improving mental health literacy, we gain the knowledge and competencies required to build better lives, recognize when to seek help and how to help others.

Honourable senators, I ask that we join together to move from mental health awareness to action and make our goal that of improving rapid access to mental health care for all Canadians. Thank you.