In memory of a friend - The Mental Health Bill of Rights

May 26th, I introduced, for second reading Bill 230: The Mental Health Bill of Rights. This bill I dedicate to a friend - who is mentioned in my speech given in the Manitoba Legislature - below.

Mr. Gerrard: Mr. Speaker, Bill 230, The Mental Health Bill of Rights, is the bill we're discussing today, and I'd like to talk briefly to members of the Legislature about the origin of this bill. As a physician and as a politician and, indeed, particularly as a politician, one of the things that I have found is that individuals with mental illnesses–some call them invisible disabilities in our society, and it's not just Manitoba–tend to be treated in a way that is discriminatory. They are not treated nearly as fairly, as well as we should be treating them, and this is something which has come up repeatedly, over and over again.
I have tried to approach this in a number of different ways and, at one point, a very sad episode happened. A friend of mine committed suicide. It was a sad moment. Committing a suicide or even attempting to commit suicide is, as I think we all know, basically a call for help. A person who is so desperate that they feel that they can't go on living, that there's nothing worth living for, and they are calling for help in dealing with the circumstances.
In this case, it was very tragic, and there were, as I've been told, some difficulties with the support that he received, that he had in fact gone in to an emergency room and was sent home with a bus ticket. Then he committed suicide. The people had known that he was suicidal, and yet the kind of support that he was given was nowhere near adequate to what he needed. It was tremendously tragic and a sad episode.
It led me to working with a number of people to try and look at what we could do. We decided to bring forward The Mental Health Bill of Rights to try and at least put in place the assurance that people who have brain health issues or mental health issues in a broad context, sometimes called invisible disorders, are given the kind of basic and fundamental rights and supports that they should be receiving in Manitoba today.
So you will note that one of the introductory clauses includes: AND WHEREAS one of the most serious consequences of a mental illness can be a progression to suicidal thoughts and even to suicide . . .
One of the clauses dealing in the bill is 2(1)(e): in respect to diagnoses and treatment, the right to receive (i) timely access to optimum health care, including urgent support for those who may be suicidal . . .
These were included as part of this bill in recognition that we need to understand, to support and to prevent suicide, to support those who are calling for help.
I noticed today in the Winnipeg Free Press, a headline, a disturbing story, suicides on Manitoba reserves, that children in northern communities are calling out for help.
I would ask all members to consider [this] very seriously. Today, I would ask you to support this legislation. It's not perfect. It will need certainly some changes at committee stage, but that is an opportunity for people to have input. But I believe it is the right step for all of us to take in reaching out to children who are thinking about committing suicide, and reaching out to people all over our province who have mental health or brain health issues.
What we have tried to do in this bill is to put a number of basic rights in place, and these basic rights are to cover all those who have, whether we use the words mental illness, or brain illness, or invisible disability, it is meant to cover those people who are often not well covered now. Those who have a physical disability, it is readily apparent, but a mental health problem or a brain health issue is not as well recognized and are often stigmatized, often not provided the kind of basic rights that they should have.
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So we're putting in this bill that a person who has a mental illness, a brain illness, has the right to be treated with compassion, respect, understanding, dignity in all circumstances–straightforward, and hopefully all of us will agree with that; the right to be treated equitably in relation to those with physical health issues in regard to public services, and I hope we can all agree with that; in the community, the right to full and equal access to social, recreational and employment programs that are open to others.
Too often, for a wide variety of reasons, people with mental or brain illnesses are not treated equitably, and they don't have the same right and the same ability to access programs, or the programs are not tailored for them in a way that works. In the community, the right to adequate housing. The stories of deficient housing are legion; in the community, the right to a supportive environment that considers the optimum lifestyle factors for persons with mental illness and the prevention of mental illness; in the community, the right to information about the beneficial effects of lifestyle choices, and we list some of these because there's been a tremendous amount of work and there will be ongoing work. It's not that we know all the answers but that we know some of them, and that this information should be available to people in a broad sense and should be taken into consideration.
In respect of advocacy on the person's behalf, the right to have an advocate of his or her own choice. The advocate, the person's circle of friends to be informed and be able to advocate on his or her behalf to the extent that he or she desires; the public advocate, when the person is unable to chose an advocate for himself or herself; the right to have a mental health directive; the right to timely access to optimum health care; the right to a second opinion; affordable access to pharmaceutical treatment; the right, when discharged from an institution, to have a plan that meets his or her needs and provisions within the plan to be adequately supported; and when in contact with the justice system, the right to be treated with understanding and respect and to have his or her mental illness considered in the provision of legal and justice services; and that these rights can be enforced in the courts.
The aim here is to be inclusive. This aim, in terms of the list of standing of mental health organization, there are other organizations like the Manitoba Brain Injury Association which need to be included.
I think, with some modest changes, that this bill can stand us all in good stead, and we, if we can pass this, will be able to hold our heads high and say that we are standing up for those with mental illness and brain injuries and doing the very best that we can. Thank you.

After I spoke, Kerri Irvin-Ross, the Minister of Health Living spoke. She spoke to say of the situation for those with mental health issues that "action is essential". She did say she was going to be reviewing mental health services - and that the last time this had been done was in 2002. She also said "trust me."

While I applaud the Minister for talking of "action", I was very surprised that she decided not to support this legislation - which I believe is an essential part of improving things in the community. With legislation like this we give the power to people - we don't even have to "trust" politicians to provide services, because by giving people rights, and powers to have those right enforced, we can provide effective ways to ensure services are actually delivered.

Myrna Driedger spoke next and she emphasized the shortcoming of the present situation in Manitoba - we are short nine psychiatrists, the "substandard housing" for many with mental illnesses, and the crumbling, slim like conditions of some public housing, and fact that at the Selkirk mental health institution, patients are lined up in beds - 12 in a row - with no curtains - in conditions that are not acceptable.

Kevin Lamoureux also spoke - and he talked of the role that the Manitoa Liberal Party and Dr. Gulzar Cheema played in the late 1980s and early 1990s in promoting improvements for those with mental or brain health issues.

Lastly, Bonnie Korzeniowski talked the bill out so it would not come to a vote. This is the NDP way of blocking passage of the bill.