Our provincial government first truly acknowledged the importance of mental-health care in 2019, with the appointment of Alberta’s first associate minister of mental health and addictions, then later appointing a minister of mental health and addiction in 2023.

Federally, Canada created a national minister of mental health and addictions in 2021, signalling a growing recognition of the importance of mental-health care across the country. Yet we are still witnessing a patchwork of services, resulting in inconsistent care and inequities in access to services and treatments, which is prolonging or worsening the suffering of many Albertans living with mental illness.

A stark example is the ongoing inequities in access to medications used to treat mental illnesses.

One year ago, Mood Disorders Society of Canada (MDSC) published a report titled System Broken: How Public Drug Coverage is Failing Canadians with Mental Illness (accesstomedication.mdsc.ca), which revealed a complex system that causes Canadians to wait too long to access needed medicines, and that results in inequitable or no access at........

© Calgary Herald