When did Canadians and Politicians lose their compassion

By Lisa Robinson - Pickering City Councillor Mental Health Week and Bell Let’s Talk Day, hold great importance dear to my heart as it sheds light on the urgent need for support and assistance for those struggling with mental health issues. However, instead of providing people with the necessary help, it seems that we are offering excuses and enabling harmful behaviors. In the past, when someone was mistaken for another gender, we would offer them the support they needed to get to the root of the problem. If one had an addiction, we would again offer them the support they needed to help stop the addiction, yet in today’s world because of a very loud minority that believes that the rest of society should just play along with particular narratives, we are now being forced to support certain fantasies, delusions, and addictions. Some of these may hold no validity as they have not been confirmed or substantiated by concrete evidence or professional assessment. One must be aware of the human desire to want to receive recognition and thus sometimes plays a significant role in who or what one wants to portray themselves as because without it they receive little to no recognition from their peers. Help is no longer sought to get to the root of the problem, but is now given to perpetuate certain behaviors, and this is deeply troubling, even more alarming is the fact that the government itself also promotes these narratives as a way of political posturing rather than genuinely addressing or solving an issue to help those with mental illness. The very individuals who claim to advocate for mental health are often the ones who contribute to its deterioration. Take for example the Mayor, who released a video addressing mental health and portraying himself as a champion for the cause. However, his actions contradict his words. He has caused significant mental distress for many, myself included. Incidents of bullying, name-calling, and the silencing of opposing voices. Voting to sanction my pay as a single mother for three months, with no other support or income coming in leaving me unable to provide for my family or even pay my mortgage. I was on the verge of resorting to the use of a food bank. It is hypocritical for someone who causes such hardship, to then expect people to approach him for support and raise awareness. This same individual, along with another member of the previous Council, violated the stay-at-home orders during the Covid pandemic. While families were suffering, losing loved ones who died alone, unable to visit loved ones over Christmas, the list goes on, council members were traveling and prioritizing their own mental well-being. It is deeply distressing that they would promote isolation and abandonment for others while enjoying their freedom. This issue of politicians dismissing the mental anguish this isolation caused on its residents soon became a global concern, and not just confined to the boundaries of Pickering. I also recall Bell Let's Talk Day, where they claimed to be advocates for mental health. However, shortly after the event, they terminated all their unvaccinated staff, causing significant mental anguish. It is alarming that the very institutions and individuals who claim to support mental health are now offering an escape of using (MAID) medical assistance in dying, instead of providing the necessary help for individuals to understand and address their challenges. It's challenging for me to fully trust the credibility of politicians when it comes to their understanding of mental health, especially when claims have also been made by a couple of my colleagues on council that artwork improves one’s mental health. I think it is important to recognize at this time after much research that the true benefit lies in the act of creating art rather than merely observing it. The same council member also stated that because of the division of city and regional responsibilities, we as a city should not use our resources to help fund the less fortunate. Canada has become a world leader in euthanasia. Since the introduction of Federal Legislation in 2016, there have been over 44,958 of these medical-assisted deaths and each year it keeps rising. In 2022, there was a 30% increase over the year before in the number of MAID deaths as reported by a Health Canada report. Very few criteria need to be met to end your life, but what concerns me is that as of March 2024, Canadians whose only medical condition is mental illness will also be eligible for MAID. I brought this to the attention of the Council back on February 27, 2023, when I lost in a 6 to 1 vote on moving forward with the Ontario Big City Mayor's recommendations on the health and homelessness crisis. I fear that most of our homeless have a mental illness, and with Durham Region creating low barrier hubs and/or housing that may give access to physicians and nurse practitioners, it may make this type of program easier to access and administer medical assisted dying to the very vulnerable people that we are trying to protect. Instead of offering genuine assistance and understanding to those in need, we are now presenting them with an option to no longer exist if they find their situation unbearable. This approach is not only deeply saddening but also highly problematic. Individuals with mental illness deserve proper care and support, not an easy way out. It is disheartening to see that large corporations and the government often show up for photo opportunities like flag raisings, and speak convincingly about mental health, but their actions reveal them to be hypocrites. We as a society must return to a time when seeking help was met with compassion, free from fear of repercussions, or being told that the only solution is to make oneself disappear. "Strength Does Not Lie In The Absence Of Fear, But In The Courage To Face It Head-On And Rise Above It"