Push for mental health to be included in Canada Health Act

Is it time to include mental health in the Canada Health Act?

One advocacy group is pushing the federal government to do just that, saying it will improve services and save Canadians money at a time when the country is struggling with a mental-health crisis.

“It’s time for us to right the wrongs,” said Sarah Kennell, the national director of public policy at the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). “The research shows it is a cost benefit.”

Kennell explains there is an urgent need for change to help those who are struggling, noting there are “heightened levels of stress, anxiety, and depression,” as well as “high rates of suicide like never before.”

The CMHA has penned a letter asking the government to make the move, saying, currently, there is a patchwork system that leaves most Canadians paying out of pocket or relying on work benefits for mental health and substance-use services.

“The federal government has the responsibility and capacity to transform the mental health system. When it comes to mental health and substance use health, it would simply be inaccurate to call our health system universal, or comprehensive. It’s true there is mental health and substance use health care available, but not on ‘uniform terms and conditions’ as provided for under the CHA. Only some Canadians will have access to it. Canada has failed to put in place a federal legal framework providing mental health and substance use health care equal to physical health care,” the letter, addressed to Health Minister Mark Holland, reads in part.

Adding mental health to the Canada Health Act or creating a parallel mental health and substance use legislation “that includes robust funding and accountability measures” would “ensure that Canadians have access to the full range of supports and services that they need to be well,” the CMHA adds.

The association says while doing so may increase overall costs to health care, inclusion of mental health under the act would be a net positive, since so many other programs would see savings in areas like policing, the justice system, and hospitals.

“The shelter system, the justice system, the pressure on food banks, the costs are insurmountable,” said Kennell. “We can’t have good physical health without mental health and vice versa.”

The CMHA argues keeping mental health out of the Act is a breach of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

So far, Kennell says the health minister’s office has been open to discussions but hasn’t made any commitments.

The CMHA plans to release a report on this in November.