Open for signatureElectronice-7619 · Parliament 45

Establish mental health parity

Petitioners ask the Government of Canada to pass Bill C-280 to establish parity in Canada's universal healthcare and fund a national framework ensuring medically necessary mental health, addictions and substance-use services are available by need.

Why we would sign this petition

Creates parity so medically necessary counselling, psychotherapy and addictions care are covered based on need, lowering out-of-pocket costs and insurance gaps.
Provides stable federal funding and a national framework to expand community-based services and reduce long waits and emergency-only care.
Aims to improve outcomes and reduce long-term pressures and costs on hospitals, first responders, families and workplaces by earlier treatment.

Why we wouldn’t sign this petition

Costs and fiscal trade-offs: stable long-term federal funding would require significant public spending that could displace other priorities.
Jurisdictional and implementation challenges: health is primarily provincial, so a federal framework may face legal, coordination and rollout obstacles across provinces and territories.
May be operationally complex and slow: creating national standards and expanding services could take years and not immediately reduce current access gaps.

The summary and both sets of reasons are AI-generated from the petition and given equal weight. Claims are the petitioners’ own; consult the official record for the full text.

Official petition

Petition to the Government of Canada Millions of Canadians continue to face financial barriers when seeking counselling, psychotherapy, addictions treatment, and other community-based mental health services; Nearly one in five Canadians experiences a mental health problem or illness each year, and about half of Canadians will experience mental illness by age 40; Canadians are too often forced to pay out of pocket, rely on inadequate private insurance, endure lengthy wait times, seek help only in crisis through emergency departments, or go without care altogether; The human and economic costs of untreated mental illness are profound, placing growing pressure on hospitals, first responders, families, workplaces, and communities, while costing Canada’s economy billions of dollars annually; Evidence shows that investing in timely, community-based mental health care improves outcomes, reduces long-term costs, and strengthens the sustainability of our public healthcare system; and Canadians overwhelmingly support universal access to mental health care and have called for mental health to be treated with the same importance as physical health. We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to: 1. Work with provinces, territories, Indigenous partners, healthcare professionals, people with lived and living experience, and community organizations to establish parity between mental and physical health in Canada’s universal healthcare system; 1. Work with provinces, territories, Indigenous partners, healthcare professionals, people with lived and living experience, and community organizations to establish parity between mental and physical health in Canada’s universal healthcare system; 2. Provide stable, long-term federal funding to expand access to medically necessary mental health, addictions, and substance use services in every region of the country; and 3. Pass Bill C-280, the Mental Health Parity Act, to create a national framework that ensures Canadians can access medically necessary mental health, addictions, and substance use care based on need, not their ability to pay or where they live.

Government response

No government response is available yet.