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w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, S ep te m be r 2, 20 21 | 4 ABOUT US This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised of more than 70 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants are urged to bring their concerns to the attention of the news- paper and, if not satisfied, write The National NewsMedia Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2. Phone: 416-340-1981 Web: www.mediacouncil.ca editorial@waterloochronicle.ca facebook.com/waterloochronicle @wlchronicle WHO WE ARE VP, Regional Publisher Kelly Montague Director of Content Lee Ann Waterman Regional General Manager Nelson Parreira Regional Director of Media Heather Dunbar Advertising Representatives Fran Hendry, Katrina Anderson, Jan Bodanka, Matt Miller, Lisa Humphreys, Cassandra Dellow, Zaid Shahabuddin, Managing Editor Robyn Wilkinson Online Editor Loraine Centeno Reporters Bill Jackson CONTACT US Waterloo Chronicle 475 Thompson Dr., Units 1-4 Cambridge, ON N1T 2K7 Phone: 519-886-2830 Fax: 519-623-9155 Web: www.waterloochronicle.ca Letters to the editor All letters must be fewer than 320 words and include your name and telephone number for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject letters. Published letters will appear in print and/or online at waterloochronicle.ca Delivery For all delivery inquiries, e-mail customerservice@metroland.com or call 519-894-3000. OPINION TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT WATERLOOCHRONICLE.CA It's about trust. Our rela- tionship with our readers is built on transparency, hon- esty and integrity. As such, we have launched a trust initiative to tell you who we are and how and why we do what we do. This article is part of that project.When we decided to gauge which issues are front of mind in our communities as voters head to the polls on Sept. 20, we emailed a short federal election survey to hundreds of community leaders who volunteer on advisory coun- cils across Torstar. Sixteen advisory coun- cils have been established at our weekly and daily newspapers in the past year to reaffirm our con- nection to our communi- ties. These councils give community leaders an op- portunity to discuss issues impacting their areas of ex- pertise and give newsroom leaders a chance to consid- er how best to present these issues to readers. Advisory council mem- bers bring knowledge from a cross-section of roles, in- cluding diversity, govern- ment, health care, non- profit organizations and policing. From the outset, we rec- ognized the limitations of seeking feedback from a subset of people and doing so during summer holi- days. The survey was sent to approximately 300 adviso- ry council members -- ex- cluding federal and provin- cial politicians -- with 108 or approximately one- third completing it. Respondents were asked to place in order of importance these 11 issues -- access to housing, jobs and economic health, cli- mate change, Indigenous Truth and Reconciliation, mental health care, univer- sal basic income, diversity with inclusion, broadband access, combating the de- liberate spread of misinfor- mation, long-term care and the opioid crisis. Once we received the re- sults, a value was assigned to each answer with the No. 1 spot assigned 11 points, two assigned 10, etc. When added together, it gave us a total for that issue. Housing came out on top with 941 points, fol- lowed by mental health (723), jobs and economic health (718), climate change (701), Indigenous (671), diversity (639), long- term care (526), opioids (517), universal basic in- come (514), broadband (504) and misinformation (430). When respondents were asked to select one issue for a robust national strategy with clear targets, objec- tives and delivery dates, ac- cess to housing took the top spot, followed by climate change, with jobs and eco- nomic health in third. Our survey results offer an interesting snapshot of what community leaders say should be on the minds of our federal parties. What issue is your top priority? Lori Martin is a deputy director of content at Tor- star. We welcome your questions and value your comments. Email our trust committee at trust@met- roland.com. HOUSING NAMED TOP PRIORITY IN SURVEY ACCESS TO HOUSING KEY ISSUE FOR COMMUNITY LEADERS, SAYS LORI MARTIN "Advisory council members bring knowledge from a cross-section of roles . . ." - Lori Martin, a deputy director of content at Torstar LORI MARTIN Column We reached out to mem- bers of our Community Ad- visory Council, asking them to write about issues of im- portance during this feder- al election. This is one of those columns. We will never forget this year -- one of the most chal- lenging years our communi- ty has ever had to endure. As we all had to change our lives to protect ourselves from the physical effects of COVID-19, the change had very negative effects on the mental health of our com- munities. Forty-one per cent of people in Canada say their mental health has de- clined since the onset of CO- VID-19. Before the pandemic, the formal mental health- care system was already broken and underfunded. Pre-pandemic, people ex- perienced long wait times and had to pay out-of-pock- et to access mental health care. Those with complex mental illnesses often re- lied on emergency depart- ments to get the immediate care they needed. Unlike other areas of health care, if you could not find the care you needed from pro- vincially funded services, Canadians turned to limit- ed employer benefits or pay out-of-pocket for pri- vate services. Because of these barriers, many never receive the care they need, and now, the need has in- creased. Since the third wave of the pandemic, we have seen drastic increases in those looking for help. Lo- cally, calls to our Here 24/7 crisis line have increased by 40 per cent since June 2021. We are experiencing an "echo pandemic" -- the mental health of our com- munities is now a primary cause of concern. A total of 3,824 people are waiting for mental health and addictions care in Waterloo Wellington. The pandemic has intensi- fied gaps in our underfund- ed mental health care sys- tem, to the point of crisis. While the investments made in Budget 2021 are welcome, they do not ad- dress the systemic under- funding of community mental health services. A positive aspect is that the pandemic brought our mental health out of the closet. Mental health is be- ing talked about; it is being acknowledged. This does help us reduce stigma, and ultimately save lives. This is a once-in-a-generation op- portunity to make meaning- ful and lasting reforms to the mental health system so that Canadians can get the help they need, when and where they need it. CMHA believes federal investment is the key to our collective recovery. We are calling on all federal politi- cal parties to prioritize mental health in their plat- forms. Specifically, CMHA is calling for: • Direct federal invest- ment to sustain and im- prove access to underfund- ed community mental health programs and servic- es to ensure every Canadian who needs mental health supports can get them. • Investment in addi- tional supportive and af- fordable housing for people with mental illnesses and substance use problems to ensure safe places to re- cover. • An increase in funding for Indigenous-led mental health services to advance reconciliation and to better support Indigenous com- munities. • More funding to sup- port people who use sub- stances; this includes fund- ing to enhance access to substance use treatments and supports, ensuring in- tegration between mental health and substance use supports, increasing the number and accessibility of supervised consumption sites, and decriminalizing simple drug possession. After all, mental health is health. Helen Fishburn is the Chief Executive Officer, CMHA Waterloo Welling- ton. MENTAL HEALTH IS HEALTH WE ARE CALLING ON ALL FEDERAL POLITICAL PARTIES TO PRIORITIZE MENTAL HEALTH IN THEIR PLATFORMS, WRITES HELEN FISHBURN HELEN FISHBURN Column