Halting the rising tide: the student mental health crisis on post-secondary campuses

The federal government must use its power of the purse to create new funding arrangements with the provinces to increase mental health care services, and reduce wait times, on campuses across the country.

If we rewind to a time before terms like ‘social distancing’ and ‘flattening the curve’ were commonplace in Canada, data shows us there was already a mental health crisis growing across Canadian campuses well before the pandemic. Leading into the 2021-22 school year, it’s time for governments of all levels to make up for lost time and intervene in the post-secondary mental health crisis, write Marley Gillies and Kalin McCluskey. Unsplash photograph by Heike Trautmann

Opinion

BY MARLEY GILLIES AND KALIN MCCLUSKEY

September 15, 2021

It’s no secret that a mental health crisis is raging on Canadian post-secondary campuses. Even before COVID-19, post-secondary students in Canada reported shocking levels of depression and anxiety. The onset of the pandemic, and the campus lockdowns that followed in late March 2020, have only serv...

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