Mental Health & Addictions

 

Canadians are suffering and dying. It’s time for real action - and a new approach. Mental health and addiction were serious problems long before COVID hit. After a year of lockdowns made them worse, these are crises that our government needs to address.​

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• Propose to the provinces that they partner with the federal government by dedicating a significant portion of the stable, predictable health funding to mental health to ensure that an additional million Canadians can receive mental health treatment every year
   

• Encourage employers to add mental health coverage to their employee benefit plans by offering a tax credit for 25% of the cost of additional mental health coverage for the first three years
   

• Create a pilot program to provide grants to non-profits and charities delivering mental health and wellness programming
   

• Create a nationwide three-digit suicide prevention hotline
   

• Revise the federal government’s substance abuse policy framework to make recovery its overarching goal
   

• Reorient the Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy towards ensuring that everyone suffering from addiction has the opportunity to recover and lead a drug-free life
   

• Create 1,000 residential drug treatment beds across the country over the next three year and build 50 recovery community centres across the country
   

• Support land-based treatment programs developed and managed by Indigenous communities as part of a plan to enhance the delivery of culturally appropriate addictions treatment and prevention services in First Nations communities with high needs
   

• Partner with the provinces to ensure that Naloxone kits are available for free across Canada