16 February 2024

Today Joshua met with Lisa Hepfner, MP for Hamilton Mountain and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth to discuss matters about youth mental health and suicide prevention, access to mental health and eating disorder resources, as well as federal support for the provinces/territories for mental and physical health care in the health care system.

This meeting comes with the release of the 2024 Mental Health Calls of Action where calls of action are being made to the Government of Canada to improve access to resources, mental health education, and support to provinces and territories. This meeting was part of a 4 month long tour series of meetings highlighting select calls on both the federal and provincial levels to improve the mental health of everyone.

Parliamentary Secretary Hepfner reaffirmed her support for doing more to ensure that mental health and well-being resources are accessible and affordable for people in Canada - including for youth. Parliamentary Secretary Hepfner recognized the need to do more to support the provinces with health care while also agreeing that provinces and territories need to be held accountable for the funding that they receive and ensure that they are actually delivering the services that they set out to. Conversations about the recent health care announcement between the Federal and Provincial governments were also discussed and the impact that this will have for people seeking care in Ontario and Hamilton Mountain.

Ongoing conversations will continue to happen throughout the year on this topic.

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Related: Read the 2024 Mental Health Calls of Action