Mind the Gender Gap ... in Canada's New Mental Health Framework (Mental Health Commission of Canada‪)‬

In January 2009 the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) released its first draft framework of a Canadian mental health strategy for public discussion. Entitled, Toward Recovery and Well-Being: A Framework for a Mental Health Strategy in Canada, the Commission held stakeholders' conferences across the country as well as an electronic consultation on their website to get public feedback on the document. Divided into eight goals, the framework includes some good recommendations, such as a recovery-oriented mental health system in which people are able to make meaningful choices of services and supports (with a funding mechanism that allows individuals to make such choices). Though the framework appears to be a step in the right direction, one thing is glaringly apparent--as with all documents published by the Commission to date, it does not include a sex- and gender-based analysis. Health research continues to document that sex and gender do matter--in research synthesis, policy and programs. In fact, research shows that a sex- and gender-based analysis leads to better science. Governments and research funding bodies have recognized this in their policies and practices. For example, in 2000, the federal government approved the Agenda for Gender Equality, an initiative which included new policies and programs and the accelerated implementation of commitments to include gender-based analysis. Health Canada's commitment is expressed in the Women's Health Strategy (1999) and Gender-Based Analysis Policy (2000). The Canadian Institutes of Health Research requires the application of a sex- and gender-based analysis on the basis that it is "good science," ethical and essential to equity.