> Mental Health Commission chair to be honoured by SFU
Mental Health Commission chair to be honoured by SFU
Contact:
Marianne Meadahl, PAMR, 778.782.4323
Marianne Meadahl, PAMR, 778.782.4323
May 30, 2008
Michael Kirby will receive his honorary degree on Thursday, June 5, 9:45 a.m.
Five years ago, the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology under the leadership of Senator Michael Kirby, undertook the first-ever national study of mental health, mental illness and addiction.
The project’s final phase involved more than 50 meetings and more than 130 hours of hearings, with witness testimony filling more than 2,000 pages. Senator Kirby and the committee travelled to every province and territory to hear first-hand accounts – and supplemented the hearings with e-consultations that gathered hundreds of individual stories on the committee’s website.
The result was a revealing report called Out of the Shadows at Last, Transforming Mental Illness and Addiction Services in Canada. The committee reaffirmed the need for a mental health commission, which was formed in 2007 with Kirby at the helm.
Kirby said the announcement of the commission drew “widespread enthusiasm” along with numerous proposals for collaborations.
During the cross-country hearings, Kirby said he was struck by the stigma around mental illness, particularly in children, and expressed hope that the report would help policy makers and politicians understand the need to devote more resources to children’s mental health.
Before entering government in 1970, Kirby was a business professor at Dalhousie University and a faculty member of business schools at the University of Chicago and the University of Kent, in England.
Five years ago, the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology under the leadership of Senator Michael Kirby, undertook the first-ever national study of mental health, mental illness and addiction.
The project’s final phase involved more than 50 meetings and more than 130 hours of hearings, with witness testimony filling more than 2,000 pages. Senator Kirby and the committee travelled to every province and territory to hear first-hand accounts – and supplemented the hearings with e-consultations that gathered hundreds of individual stories on the committee’s website.
The result was a revealing report called Out of the Shadows at Last, Transforming Mental Illness and Addiction Services in Canada. The committee reaffirmed the need for a mental health commission, which was formed in 2007 with Kirby at the helm.
Kirby said the announcement of the commission drew “widespread enthusiasm” along with numerous proposals for collaborations.
During the cross-country hearings, Kirby said he was struck by the stigma around mental illness, particularly in children, and expressed hope that the report would help policy makers and politicians understand the need to devote more resources to children’s mental health.
Before entering government in 1970, Kirby was a business professor at Dalhousie University and a faculty member of business schools at the University of Chicago and the University of Kent, in England.