Speeches from the TRAM Press Conference

It’s always a pleasure, to be here at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario or CHEO.  Thank you for hosting us today.   I would like to acknowledge Michael Wilson, a member of the Canadian Institute of Health Research’s Governing Council, and one our country’s strongest advocates for mental health research and treatment who has joined us today.  As well as, President of CIHR, Dr. Alain Beaudet.

Mental health is an issue that touches us all, either personally or through friends and family members.  One in five Canadians will experience a mental illness in his or her lifetime. And young people are not immune from mental illness.  In fact, 70% of mental health problems and illnesses begin during childhood or adolescence.  And young people aged 15-24 are more likely to report mental illness disorders than any other age group. The Mental Health Commission of Canada has told us how important it is to identify youth at risk and intervene as early as possible.  Doing so improves their life trajectories and their productivity as Canadians, and reduces the prevalence of mental health problems in adulthood.  And our Government has listened.

In Canada, we are fortunate to have world-class researchers working in the field of mental health.  Their research, along with research from around the world holds the promise of improving the quality of life for those who live with mental illness. Unfortunately, sometimes that research never makes it beyond the laboratory, hospital, or university.  All too often, those treatments or practices are implemented only where they were discovered, and do not make their way across Canada, to the front lines of health care delivery, where they are needed. That is why, last year, our Government launched the Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research, or SPOR.  Our goal was to bridge this gap between research evidence and health practice.

Today, I am pleased to announce that we are launching the first ever SPOR network: the Patient-Oriented Network in Adolescent and Youth Mental Health.  Through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, our Government will provide 12.5 million dollars to support this new mental health research network.  The network is a collaborative effort between the CIHR and our partner, the Graham Boeckh Foundation, which has generously matched funding to support this initiative.  Thank you, Mr. Boeckh, for your passion and leadership in the field of mental health.  And thank you, Dr. Beaudet, for your hard work and contribution to the advancement of research in our country.

The Patient-Oriented Network in Adolescent and Youth Mental Health will unite some of the best and brightest minds in the field of mental health research.  These researchers will share the best practices and latest innovations in the treatment of mental health problems and illnesses. In turn – and most importantly – they will share those best practices with those who need them most: the doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals who work on the front lines of health care. SPOR represents a new way of doing business.  It involves working together, in partnership.  It is about more than discovering new treatments and therapies.  It is about sharing those innovative discoveries throughout all the provinces and territories, in order to transform the health care system.

In closing, I wish to once again thank Graham Boeckh Foundation for its support and collaboration on this initiative.  The Government of Canada is pleased to be your partner, as we strive to promote mental health and improve the care and resources provided to those who deal with mental health issues.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Munter, for your introduction.  And thank you, Minister Aglukkaq, for your presence here today.  Your support of CIHR and health research in Canada is appreciated, as always.  I would also like to acknowledge the presence here today of our partner in this exciting new initiative, Mr Tony Boeckh.  The close collaboration with the Graham Boeckh Foundation is what has made this new approach to mental health research possible.

L’annonce d’aujourd’hui est à deux titres une première pour les Instituts de recherche en santé du Canada.

C’est d’abord le lancement d’un premier réseau en recherche axée sur le patient, et par là le coup d’envoi d’une stratégie nationale visant l’amélioration des soins et des services de santé par la recherche. C’est ensuite le signal de l’intention des IRSC de travailler à l’avenir de façon beaucoup plus étroite et concertée avec des partenaires des secteurs public et privé, comme avec les ministères de la santé des provinces et territoires, pour s’assurer que la recherche soit au cœur de l’amélioration des soins.

SPOR began as a vision – a vision to bring the best possible care to Canadian patients.  Today, that vision has materialized with the launch of our inaugural thematic research network: the Patient-Oriented Network in Adolescent and Youth Mental Health.

As Minister Aglukkaq pointed out, the goal of patient-oriented research is to translate innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to the point of care.  In doing so, patient-oriented research will help the provinces and territories meet the challenge of delivering high quality, cost-effective health care.  Ultimately, our goal is to demonstrably improve health outcomes and enhance patients' health care experience through integration of evidence at all levels in the health care system.

The application process for this competition is expected to be launched in January.  The focus of the Network is on adolescent and youth mental health – individuals of approximately 11 to 25 years of age.  It will be important for network applicants to propose a multi-jurisdictional approach that will link the system within those jurisdictions, and bring together policy makers, patients, researchers, and health care providers.

I strongly encourage all stakeholders associated with Canada's mental health research community to get involved.  By working together, we can improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of our health care system.  And more importantly, improve health outcomes for Canadian patients.

Thank you, merci.

Thank you Minister Aglukkaq, Dr. Beaudet and Mr. Munter.  It is a great pleasure to be here with all of you today to participate in the announcement of this great new project in mental health.  As Minister Aglukkaq mentioned, mental health is an issue that touches us all, either personally or through family and friends.  In my own case, my son Graham suffered from schizophrenia and in the end passed away due to complications with his medication.  I feel that he was badly let down by the system in many ways – access, misdiagnosis and improper care and follow through. That is why our family has been determined to improve how patients and families are treated in Canada.

We created the Graham Boeckh Foundation in the late nineties.  In the ensuing years we have funded a Chair in Schizophrenia Studies at McGill and the Douglas Hospital, created the Sam Lal Award, named after an inspirational scientist at the Douglas Hospital in Mental Health Research, to recognize mid-level, brilliant young scientists in the field.  We have organized several leading edge international symposia on mental health and have been a driving force behind the development of the Science of Science Network for Mental health.  This initiative brings together a network of leading Canadian and international mental health care funders and researchers in order to study the payback from basic mental health research with the ultimate objective of improving the translation of research into faster cures and better treatments.

The patient-oriented network in adolescent and youth mental health that we are announcing today has a similar objective of transformational change.  Our goal: to greatly improve mental health outcomes for young people in Canada within 5 years.  It is unfortunately the rule in Canada, not the exception, that teenagers and other young people suffering from mental illness still get either inadequate care or no care at all.  This is shameful and our partnership with CIHR is an important step toward changing that.  This project is deliberately ambitious because we, and many others, want to change how mental health care is delivered.  And we are going to do it.  I want to say a few words about why this patient-oriented research project is different from other mental health projects and what makes it very exciting.

1. It is a partnership between CIHR and a charitable foundation, GBF, and it is focused on improving outcomes for young people suffering from, or at major risk of, serious mental illness.
2. It is network-based, national, multi-institutional, multi-disciplined and collaborative.
3. The research, as I said, will be metric driven.  To change the system, we need the research evidence necessary to support those on the front lines.  This is all about research evidence, impact and implementation.
4. The key to success will lie with the Selection Panel and a novel approach to the Request For Applications process.  The panel will consist of three world-class clinical scientists from outside Canada, along with representation from patients and families, policy and service delivery.  They will be involved in the RFA process right from the start, will select the network through standard rigorous criteria and will play a continuing collaborative and strategic role with the selected network to ensure that the goals are met.  The selected network will bring together Canada’s top researchers in the field together with patients, provinces and mental health care institutions in a collaborative manner.

This project is an opportunity and a challenge for everyone interested in transforming mental health care for Canadian youth who are suffering from mental illness now or may in the future -- start thinking now about building networks and submitting your best ideas.  In closing, I want to say that working with the CIHR on putting this partnership together has been an exercise in collaboration at its very best.  I want to mention a few people in particular who have been so important in making this a reality.

From CIHR, Alain Beaudet, a man of great vision and inspiration.  We very quickly developed an extraordinary level of trust and understanding of what we wanted to accomplish.  As a result, we put this together with remarkable ease and speed.  Tony Phillips, the Scientific Director of the Institute for Neuroscience for Mental Health and Addiction, has been a great friend and we have worked together in a variety of projects in mental health and neuroscience over many years.  He has been extremely helpful in the development of our foundation and he played a critical role in moving the project forward right from the beginning.  Jane Aubin and David Peckham also played a crucial role in getting the partnership agreement done.

Jean Rouleau, Michel Bureau and Bob Bell, I also want to acknowledge their importance in this great new initiative.  Jim Hughes, our CEO, carried the ball for us with great skill, insight and energy.  He deftly managed the complexities of collaboration in a unique initiative between a public (CIHR) and a private (GBF) entity.  I also want to acknowledge my old friend, Mike Wilson, who made a special trip to be with us here today.  We go back almost 60 years and have both suffered tragic losses of sons due to mental illness.  Mike has been a giant in this field for many years, a tireless advocate for putting the mental health agenda on centre stage.

In closing, I want to repeat this project is, and should be, ambitious:

• Mental health’s time has arrived;
• The task ahead is of critical importance;
• Between GBF and CIHR, we will make a big difference.

Thank you.