This week is Black Mental Health Week, a time to amplify Black voices and bring awareness to the impacts of anti-Black racism and systemic discrimination on the mental health of Black Canadians.
Black Canadians continue to face significant barriers to accessing mental health services and supports. This week and throughout the year, we recognize the diversity of Black communities and the importance of delivering and advancing culturally appropriate mental health care for Black communities across Canada.
This year's theme, "Joy as Resistance", emphasizes the importance of building mental health care supports as a form of resistance, reclaiming joy in the face of systemic oppression.
By working with community partners, Black organizations, not-for-profits, and researchers shaping Black mental health for the better, we can make a difference in the mental health care of Black Canadians. To do so, we are supporting initiatives and projects that are designed by Black communities for Black communities.
Through the Mental Health of Black Canadians Fund we are working to improve access to culturally safe and informed mental health services. This fund aims to increase understanding about the barriers, such as anti-Black racism and systemic discrimination, and social determinants of mental health for Black Canadians. These funded projects also address gaps in knowledge to develop effective culturally focused approaches and programs for Black Canadians, while increasing capacity and scaling-up programs to address these barriers within communities. By next year, the Fund will have supported 60 projects.
Through the Substance Use and Addictions Program (SUAP), we are funding five projects directly linked to providing culturally-appropriate substance use and addictions programming to Black Canadians that meets their needs.
Investing and working alongside Black community leaders and organizations is how we pave the way to better health outcomes for Black Canadians. It's up to all of us to work together to address all forms of anti-Black racism and improve the health, social and economic well-being of our friends and neighbours from coast to coast to coast.
The Honourable Ya'ara Saks, P.C., M.P.
