A Guelph teenager who lost both parents to mental health issues says an additional $2 billion promised in the recently-announced provincial budget is welcome, but Noah Irvine cautions almost $4 billion in existing funding is seemingly nowhere to be seen.
“Where is this two billion dollars going? I have a rough idea — it’s going to a fragmented system that doesn’t work,” said Irvine.
Months ago, when Irvine spoke with then-Health Minister Eric Hoskins, he was told about $3.7 billion in provincial funding for mental health and addictions.
Short on specifics, Irvine attempted to track down how that $3.7 billion was being used in the system, contacting the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance and the Treasury Board.
“I asked where that funding was going and nobody could answer,” said Irvine.
At one point, the teen was told by the Ministry of Health to ask Toronto Public Health how the funding was being used.
“Why would Toronto Public Health know that?” said Irvine.
The issue, said Irvine, is a lack of a centralization of services. He would like to see each province and territory form a Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions, like B.C. has done.
“We don’t have a functioning, centralized system — we have a fractured, decaying system that doesn’t work,” said Irvine.
He continues to ask the Canadian government to create a secretariat for mental health and addictions, to oversee services from the federal level and the flow of funding to the provinces.
Recently, Irvine set up a non-partisan web site called Step Up and do Better to keep people informed about his efforts to overhaul mental health and addictions services in Canada.
“The whole goal of that site is to allow anybody to have access to the documents that I have. I want people to be able to read exactly what I am reading from so they know I am not pulling my ideas out of nowhere. I am pulling these ideas out of pre-existing parliamentary reports — whether they are provincial or federal,” said Irvine.
Irvine’s story went national this summer when he expressed his displeasure with the lack of response he received after writing letters to every member of parliament in Canada, challenging them to take action and address the country’s suicide crisis.
In the letter, Irvine explained how he lost his mother to suicide when he was just five years old and about the loss of his father in 2015 to mental illness.
His father was 40 when he died and his mother was just 24 years of age at the time of her suicide.
Since then, he has received a personal phone call from the Prime Minister of Canada, met with the federal Health Minister and received a standing ovation from the Ontario Legislature, and won the Samara Canada Everyday Political Citizen Award in December.
The teen continues to write letters. Recently he sent letters to every premier in the country.
“I have asked them to continue to step up and do better in their provinces,” said Irvine.
He also sent letters to the Governor General and the lieutenant general of each province, and said he plans on sending letters to every member of provincial parliament after Ontario’s June election.
“I’m going to ask what they will do in the next four years of their term to better Ontario and press them on what they are committed to doing,” said Irvine.
