Honourable senators, May is Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Month.

BPD is a serious and complex mental health disorder rooted in chronic emotional dysregulation. People with BPD have ongoing difficulties with regulating emotion, and as a result are emotionally sensitive and reactive. They experience extreme emotional pain and very high rates of suicidality. Between 1% and 2% of Canadians have BPD.

I want to introduce honourable colleagues to The Sashbear Foundation, an organization devoted to raising awareness of BPD. Since its founding in 2012 by Lynn Courey and Mike Menu, this grassroots, volunteer-based charity has given hope, skills and community to over 10,000 Canadians, who are members of families seriously impacted by their loved ones’ mental health issues, which include chronic emotional dysregulation and borderline personality disorder.

Every year, The Sashbear Foundation organizes the Sashbear Walk. It is the largest event of its kind in Canada for chronic emotional dysregulation and BPD, bringing together hundreds of supporters in cities across Canada to create a sea of orange to help break stigma and raise public awareness of this disorder and our national mental health crisis.

I was pleased to be part of today’s Sashbear Walk in Ottawa — its very first — and I will also join the walk in Vancouver on May 11. I encourage everyone to go to Sashbear.org to learn more about BPD and how you can support The Sashbear Foundation’s work on mental health and suicide prevention. Thank you.