Homelessness

The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) was created by the federal government in its budget of March 2007. The goal of the MHCC is to help bring into being an integrated mental health system that places people living with mental illness at its centre. To this end, the Commission encourages cooperation and collaboration among governments, mental health service providers, employers, the scientific and research communities, as well as Canadians living with mental illness, their families and caregivers. In this, the MHCC’s inaugural Annual Report, we are eager to share with Canadians the progress that has been made towards accomplishing our mandate.

Health Care in Canada 2008 (HCIC 2008) is the ninth in a series of annual reports on Canada’s health care system. Health Care in Canada 2008 continues the new format and focused content that was launched in HCIC 2007, providing a review of key analytic work undertaken at CIHI that highlights CIHI’s health care research priorities (access, quality of care, health human resources, funding/costs, etc.). Also included in this report is a review of seminal national and international health care research as it maps onto these health care priorities. HCIC 2008 is an important tool for health care researchers, persons involved in strategic decision-making in health care, the media and Canadians in general to identify current priorities in health care.

In its pre-budget consultations for the fall of 2005, the Standing Committee of Finance indicated an interest in receiving input on how improvements to Canada’s productivity performance contributes to the economic growth of the nation. In this submission, the Canadian Mental Health Association challenged the committee to look outside of the traditional business/economic model of small, medium and large businesses to consider whether Canada is making the most out of the potential of all its citizens.

In this 2004 submission to the House of Commons Committee on Justice, Human Rights, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, the Canadian Mental Health Association outlines specific technical recommendations surrounding Bill C-10 to ensure that the legislation will provide for appropriate safeguards to ensure that the balance between public interest and individual rights is achieved.

In this 2004 submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance, the Canadian Mental Health Association outlines the need for a Pan-Canadian Strategy on Mental Illness and Mental Health under federal leadership.

A health problem of the scope and importance of mental illness requires a comprehensive surveillance system to monitor progress in achieving policy and program goals. A workshop held in September, 1999, co-sponsored by Health Canada and the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health (CAMIMH), developed a comprehensive indicator framework for a Mental Illnesses and Mental Health Surveillance System. This report responds to the recommendations from the workshop to collate existing data in order to begin the process of creating a picture of mental illnesses in Canada.