Honourable Michael Kirby takes on the challenge

While Senator and Chair of the Senate Social Affairs Committee from 1999 to 2006, Honourable Michael Kirby remembers the day the members of his committee decided to shine the light on Mental Health. "We had just completed a very large study on the acute healthcare system and we were discussing, what to tackle next " he says. As we talked, one by one members of the committee told of their personal stories of friends or family who had struggled with mental illness or addiction."

Michael Kirby's own sister suffered from depression for many years throughout her adult life, including a failed attempted suicide. "She was able to ultimately recover, which means she was able to lead a reasonably normal life consistent with the limitations of her illness," says Senator Kirby. "With the right psychiatric help and with the right medication she was able to overcome her disease. She went on to get her masters degree and ended up working for 15 years before she succumbed to cancer."

So Senator Kirby—along with the members of the Social Affairs Committee knew first-hand the devastating impact of mental illness on one’s personal life and on the lives of the people around them. But they were also keenly aware of the deficiencies in the mental healthcare system. "My sister fell between the cracks all the time," says Senator Kirby. "However, I also saw that there is significant hope for people with a mental illness if they get the right treatment."

The right man for the job

As with any of the projects he took on over the lifetime of his career, Michael Kirby believed he could make an impact on the state of mental health care. "Every task I have tackled in my career has been complex and I was often faced with resistance, but I never backed down and I won't this time either."

Among his many accomplishments, Senator Kirby was Secretary to the Cabinet for Federal-Provincial Relations and Deputy Clerk of the Privy Council from 1980 to 1983, during which time he was deeply involved in the negotiations that led to the patriation of the Canadian Constitution and the inclusion of the Charter of Rights in the Constitution.

And during his term as chair of the Senate Social Affairs Committee, Canada's healthcare system was the major focus of the Committee's work. Its two-year study of the hospital and doctor system culminated in an October 2002 report, "Recommendations for Reform." Provincial governments are currently enacting many of these recommendations.

So with his past experience, his drive to succeed and a personal connection to the disease, Senator Kirby was ready for this daunting task.

Good start, but we still have a very long way to go

According to Michael Kirby, with the high incidences of mental illness being what they are, it was not surprising to hear so many similar stories from his committee members. And it made their task that much more real and important. "To get us started we conducted extensive hearings and research to determine what we thought a revised mental health system should look like," he says. "The result: the report had huge media coverage and positive responses from federal and provincial governments and, possibly more importantly, by caregivers of people living with a mental illness."

This led to the Mental Health Commission of Canada being created. The report, Out of the Shadows at Last, was released on May 9, 2006.

But Senator Kirby—who in March 2007, was appointed chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada—felt that a lot needed to be done to improve mental health services. "In addition, stigmatization of people with mental health issues is huge," he says. "There has been progress but compared to the progress made in other parts of the health system, the progress on mental health is minuscule. We still have a long, long way to go."

According to Michael Kirby, mental health has been, for far too long, put at the bottom of the government's health priorities. "For a collection of illnesses that have such a major economic impact simply by the huge numbers of people affected by them, mental health gets a very small percentage of the research dollars and budgets going toward quality and quantity of services."

A light at the end of the tunnel

Senator Kirby believes, however, that with the Senate report, momentum for mental health change has begun. "We are making a dent—slowly starting to reduce the stigma and discrimination attached to mental illness. We are making it easier for people to talk about it," he suggests. "And I also sense there is willingness on many levels to make change—public and private sectors, individuals and government."

Michael Kirby explained that the mandate of the Commission is to produce Canada's first national mental health strategy and to launch an anti-stigmatization campaign that will last for the next decade. "We are going to start the anti-stigma program with the kids of the country as they are our future. In the long-term changing their attitudes to mental illness will make the most impact," he says. "We are also working on changing the attitude of healthcare professionals and on creating a social movement to encourage large numbers of Canadians to create a national group of people to support the movement for change in the mental health system."

In December 2008, the Governor General of Canada announced that Michael Kirby was being appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in recognition of his lifetime of outstanding achievement on major public policy issues and his current commitment to confronting the challenges related to mental illness.

Change may not be easy, but with a man like Michael Kirby at the helm, anything is possible.