Honourable senators, I rise today to build on the insightful comments made by our colleagues Senators Marshall and Boehm last week in drawing our attention to Mental Health Week and to the good work being done by the Senate Mental Health Advisory Committee.

I would also like to acknowledge last week’s work by Senator Ravalia in the Mental Health in Primary Care web series. Certainly, there is much to be done to improve outcomes for Canadians living with mental health challenges and many areas of concern that need to be addressed. When faced with such a big challenge, it can be overwhelming, and the default consideration can be to walk away from the whole thing. When I feel that way, I remind myself of the Biblical story of David and Goliath.

The Israeli army saw a big giant and thought, “What a huge giant. We can’t win.” And they ran away. David thought, “What a huge target. I can’t miss.” And he was right. That is also the way with the challenge of addressing mental health and mental illness. It’s such a big target, we can’t miss, but we need to be focused. David didn’t hurl hundreds of ineffective projectiles at Goliath, hoping that one would hit and stick. He launched a specific and effective one, and that is what we need to do.

In my opinion, the foundation piece for improving both mental health and mental illnesses is mental health literacy. The Mental Health Handbook for Parliamentarians and Staff is an example of this. Your office should have received copies in both official languages last week. I hope that you will take the time to read it, encourage your staff to do the same and share it with others.

Today, I acknowledge a team of Canadian researchers, educators and clinicians who are national and international leaders in mental health literacy. Their work is focused on improving mental health literacy in primary, junior high, secondary and post-secondary schools. Also under way is a collaborative project that will create school-based interventions for Indigenous young people. Included in their work is a certified teacher training program that can be used across Canada during pre-service teacher training or as professional development for active educators. This work is supported by extensive, robust research, not just in Canada but in countries around the globe.

Some of the leaders responsible for these innovations include Dr. Yifeng Wei, who is here from the University of Alberta; Mr. Andrew Baxter of the Alberta Health Services; and Dr. Wendy Carr of the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia. They, along with their collaborators from coast to coast to coast, are working hard at creating, implementing and scaling up this mental health literacy foundation.

Please join me in acknowledging this good work and in encouraging them to see, like David saw, that while the challenge is huge, they can’t miss. Thank you, wela’lioq.