Mental health parity law
Petitioners ask the government to legislate parity between mental and physical health, fund timely publicly funded community mental-health and substance-use services, and establish a Canada Mental Health Transfer with $4.5B to provinces and territories. The government responds it is working with provinces and territories and funding youth mental-health programs ($500M YMHF) and national substance-use initiatives.
Why we would sign this petition
- Legislating parity would formally include mental health in universal care, prompting policy and resource changes to align mental‑health services with physical‑health care.
- A dedicated Canada Mental Health Transfer and an initial $4.5B would provide predictable funding provinces and territories could use to expand community services and reduce emergency pressure.
- Requiring evidence‑based, culturally appropriate community services would improve timely access beyond hospitals, better serving diverse populations and youth.
Why we wouldn’t sign this petition
- Creating a long‑term transfer and new entitlements would be costly and require trade‑offs in federal budgets and priorities, possibly crowding out other programs.
- The proposal could overlap existing federal–provincial funding arrangements and provoke jurisdictional friction or inefficiencies without clear coordination.
- Effectiveness depends on provincial uptake, delivery capacity and accountability; an initial $4.5B may not guarantee timely, equitable or culturally appropriate services without clear standards and oversight.
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 Whereas : Canada is experiencing a mental health and substance use crisis that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. And whereas : Too many Canadians are unable to access mental health or substance use supports in a timely manner. Lack of access to community-based mental health and substance use services increases demands on hospital emergency rooms and primary care providers. Untreated or inadequately treated mental illness carries significant social and economic costs. Therefore, we the undersigned citizens and residents of Canada call upon the Government of Canada to: 1. Legislate parity between physical and mental health in Canada's universal public healthcare system; 2. Ensure timely access to evidence-based, culturally appropriate, publicly funded mental health and substance use services beyond hospital and physician settings; and 3. Establish the Canada Mental Health Transfer to sustainably fund the provision of mental health and substance use services and disburse an initial investment of $4.5 billion to the provinces and territories.
Government response
Response by the Minister of Health Signed by Maggie Chi Our government is committed to supporting the mental health of Canadians. We are working closely with provinces and territories to change the way the healthcare system delivers mental health and substance use services to Canadians. Through the Youth Mental Health Fund (YMHF), we are investing $500 million over five years to support community-based organizations to expand the mental health care services they offer to youth, add capacity, fill gaps, and ensure they are integrated within the broader health care system. We are also delivering on a new Integrated Youth Services (IYS) Collaboration Centre that will make it easier for provincial and territorial IYS networks to work together and coordinate efforts, for example, through sharing of best practices and training clinicians. Our government also launched the IYS Data Platform to provide timely, accurate data for improving youth mental health and substance use care in Canada. IYS is a proven and evidence-based model of care that uses community-based hubs to connect youth ages 12 to 25 and their families to free and accessible mental health, primary care, substance use, sexual health, education, employment, and other social services all in a one youth-friendly location, with no referral required. With respect to substance use services, the federal government is committed to continued action using the broad range of tools to reduce overdose deaths and substance-use related harms. Guided by the Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy (CDSS), the federal government is taking a comprehensive approach to addressing substance use and related harms, centered on promoting public health and protecting public safety. This whole-of-government initiative includes supporting timely access to prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery services and supports that people in Canada need. Examples of how the CDSS will continue to guide the government’s work to save lives and protect the health and safety of Canadians include: Supporting a full continuum of evidence-based and vital services and supports to save lives and help people who use drugs access treatment and recovery supports, investing in public education, opioid prescribing guidance, and community-based programs to prevent the initiation of drug use; Working with stakeholders to reduce stigma around substance use, which acts as a barrier to accessing critical health and social services and leads to social isolation, poorer quality of care, negative health outcomes and further risk of harms for the individual and the community; Continuing to address the illegal production and trafficking of illegal drugs, with a focus on organized drug crime; and, Implementing additional surveillance and research activities that will allow us to continue to monitor the evolution of the toxic drug crisis and further build the evidence base on what works and allow the federal government to pursue effective solutions to this public health and public safety crisis. Our new government is building on the actions taken by the previous government to fight the drug and overdose crisis. On October 6, 2025, we launched a new launched a new Call for Proposals (CFP) for the Emergency Treatment Fund (ETF). The ETF provides urgent support to municipalities and Indigenous communities to rapidly respond to emergent, critical needs related to the drug crisis. Since 2024, Health Canada has provided more than $83.8 million through the ETF to 91 projects supporting Indigenous communities and municipalities across Canada. The new projects will roll out by April 2026. ETF funding is supporting activities that include expenditures such as crisis and peer-led outreach, access to mental health and other wraparound supports; cultural and community-based programming; harm reduction and overdose prevention initiatives; training and education; and efforts to reduce barriers to existing treatment and recovery services. The Fund is designed to be flexible and responsive to the urgent needs of communities with regards to the drug crisis. Our government’s work builds on work done by the previous government, including: The Substance Use and Addictions Program (SUAP); The Youth Substance Use Prevention Program (YSUPP); and The Working Together bilateral agreements, which, among many other things, improve access to quality mental health and substance abuse services. The Working Together agreements included $25 billion over ten years to provinces and territories through tailored bilateral agreements to support the shared health priorities of: Improving access to quality mental health, and substance use services; Expanding access to family health services, including in rural and remote areas; Supporting our health workers and reducing backlogs; and Modernizing health systems with health data and digital tools. In 2023-24, Working Together bilateral agreements were signed with all provinces and territories to provide $7.5 billion over 3 years (QC has a 4-year agreement) to flexibly support one or more of the shared health priorities based on the unique needs of its population and geography. These agreements also include $1.8 billion over 3 years from a Budget 2017 investment to improve access to mental health and substance use services. Together, these investments are supporting integration of mental health and substance use services within the health system, enabling access to comprehensive care for Canadians, when and where they need. All provinces and territories included mental health and substance use activities in their action plans as part of these bilateral agreements.