REGINA — A report released by Saskatchewan's children's advocate says the province has failed for decades to act on recommendations aimed at improving the mental health of youth.
Lisa Broda tabled her report in the legislature Tuesday calling for better mental-health and addiction services.
She said the province's 2011 plan to address the issue "died a slow death," and several departments seem to have little knowledge about another plan the government released in 2014.
In her report "Desperately Waiting," Broda made 14 recommendations, which include decreasing wait times for mental health and addiction services and enhancing detox and addictions treatment models.
"When a young person breaks a leg, or hurts their arm, or gets sick, they go to the hospital and get treated immediately," Broda said at a news conference.
"But when a young person's mind is hurting, they don't get service. We need to do a way better job."
Alexis Epp said she was diagnosed with depression when she was 15 and had to lean on Google to help understand what it meant.
"I had to choose between my education and my health, and in the process, both declined rapidly," said Epp,who is part of the Saskatchewan Child and Youth Advisory Council. She joined Broda when she released the report, sharing her own experience with mental illness.
At one point she was taken to the emergency room, where she said she waited 11 hours to see a doctor.
"My mom had to leave to go to work, and when she came back she told the nurse I had plans to kill myself," Epp said.
"The nurse said 'Oh, so she's not just looking for attention.'"
Epp, who is now 24, said the health-care system continues to lack a middle-tier for young adults seeking mental health and addiction support.
"You're either fine, or you're in (need of) critical care. There is no in-between," she said.
Broda said Epp's story isn't unique.
Other problems include a shortage of resources and supports for Indigenous children, a lack of psychologists with a five-month waiting list, and an absence of counsellors in schools, the latter of which Epp said would have helped her.
Mental Health and Addictions Minister Everett Hindley did not accept the recommendations Tuesday.
"We're taking a very close look at all the recommendations," Hindley said, adding some are already addressed in the 2022-23 budget, pointing to an additional $8 million for mental health.
That funding represents seven per cent of the overall health budget for this fiscal year, similar to the 2021-22 budget.
This is despite mental health worsening among youth during the COVID-19 pandemic, Broda said. She said 38 per cent of children and youth in Saskatchewan reported a decline in their mental health.
Many of the recommendations are not new to the government.They have been called for over the last 20 years and mirror some of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's calls to action, Broda said.
The report cites Public Health Agency of Canada data that say suicide was the second leading cause of death in Saskatchewan in 2020 among young people between the ages of 15 and 24.
Data from the Saskatchewan Coroners Service shows 235 children and youth under the age of 20 died by suicide between 2010 and 2021, averaging 20 deaths a year.
Broda said suicide rates are highest among Indigenous boys and girls.
Wanda and Chris Ball said their son Kye died by suicide in 2017 at the age of 16.
"We were fighting back and forth for the care he needed, and he fell through the system," Wanda Ball said, adding more supports need to be available for children not receiving in-patient care.
Her husband wants the government to provide an immediate timeline of when they will address the mental-health crisis that affected their son.
"We need some kind of commitment from the government. We've gotten nothing from this government, we need some answers," Chris Ball said. "We are the faceofthe report."
Hindley wouldn't commit to a timeline on Tuesday, saying his ministry will look closely at what can be done.
"We'll address this as quickly as we can," he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 29, 2022.
Mickey Djuric, The Canadian Press
