Report: Mental health issues rising
on Canadian campuses

> Students often fear disclosing their mental health issues

Jillian McMullen
Staff Writer

 

n recent years, practitioners in Canada
have noted a spike in mental health-
related issues among students, with
half of those students experiencing the
onset of their illness during their time
in school, according to a new report.

The Canadian Alliance of Student
Associations (CASA) published a paper
on January 9, which examines the realities
of mental health on post-secondary
campuses across the country and makes
suggestions as to what the federal
government can do to improve them.
Although provincial governments are
responsible for both education and mental
health care, the report demonstrates how
the federal government is implicated in
both sectors, spending over 12 billion
and 50 billion on either, respectively.

In the report, CASA admits

difficulties in accurately accounting for
those suffering from mental health issues,
with inquiries into the mental health
environment among students often only
looking at registration rates with student
accessibility programs. Most students,
however, suffer from mild to moderate
conditions and do not attempt to apply
for an institution’s offered services, often
believing their conditions are not severe
enough to seek support. This, the report
says, is why institutions should focus on
expanding their supports for students.
Academic accommodations
are perhaps the most common tool
post-secondary institutions use to
provide extra support to their students
struggling with mental illness. The
report lists ways these accommodations
are commonly employed, such as in
homework extensions and adjusted
test times. It articulates how integral
these supports are for students
experiencing mental health issues.

“Research shows that success in post-
secondary education for many students
is linked to the presence of accessible
and sufficient accommodations,” the
report explains. “Studies of students
with ‘invisible disabilities’ have revealed
that students felt accommodations
were imperative to their success.”

Students encounter difficulties
while attempting to access those
accommodations as many institutions
require formal documentation of
permanent disability, which can be
hard for students to get—particularly if
the illness has just begun to manifest.
According to the report, students
often fear fully disclosing their mental
health issues to faculty members
due to the stigma surrounding it.

“Final say for academic
accommodations, such as extensions
for individual assignments, are often
left to the discretion of professors,”
the report says. “This presents another

barrier for students who may be dealing
with professors who lack information
about the appropriate services for
students with mental health problems
and illnesses, hold prejudicial attitudes,
or are unwilling to put in extra work

to accommodate students.”

The report suggests greater federal
investment in data collection will help
to end that kind of stigma. With the
creation of a national body charged
with establishing concrete data, the
government can more accurately develop
action plans that benefit students.

“Better national data is needed
to help ensure that evidence-based
solutions are developed to fight stigma,
reduce discrimination, and improve
mental health supports on Canadian
campuses,’ the report suggests.

The full report is available
on the CASA website.

City considers new housing policies

> Affordable renting on council agenda

Colten Kamlade
Staff Reporter

 

N Westminster may begin exploring
options for increasing affordable
housing in the city, after several council
members expressed their support

on January 8 for a recommendation
outlining rental replacement and
inclusionary housing policies.

New Westminster City Councillor
Jaimie McEvoy expressed why he thought
the issue was worth consideration.

“Tt’s important we protect rental
housing in the city, and as I said on the
previous issue, it’s important we do it in
a proactive way, and that action come
out of policy,” he said at the city council

 

of development that might involve
rental properties, the city wants those
rental properties replaced, and in the
course of that replacement we want to
have at least some discussion about the
possibility of a somewhat-affordable
housing component in that work as well.”
Mayor Johnathan Cote also voiced
support for the recommendation, and
referenced New Westminster’s past
involvement tackling housing concerns.
“New Westminster really has been
a leader with a number of policies and
has led the region. Whether it’s our
work with rental policy or our work
with housing first and the creation of
new transitional housing to address the
homelessness issue,” he said during the

meeting. “This is definitely an issue that is

 
 

going to require all levels of government
to be involved in, but there are specific
tools that can be used at the local
government level to address this matter,
and I think a rental replacement policy
and examining inclusionary housing
policies are two very important policy
tools that we have at our jurisdiction.”

Cote later expressed concern
that if they did not explore housing
options, the city might suffer for it.

“The rental replacement policy, I
think, there’s got to be a recognition that
we've done a very good job of setting
up policies in our community that
has not led to the demolition of older
rental buildings in our community,” he
said. “But at some point, some of those
buildings are going to reach the end of

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their life expectancy and there will need
to bea transition, and J think without
this policy work, we're not necessarily in
the best position to ensure that the new
housing is rental housing and that we
have affordable components of that.”
Cote, despite his enthusiasm,
acknowledged the need for more
research before any action was taken.
“I’m really looking forward to the
work being done. I think we need to do
a lot of economic analysis and policy
work before implementing it, but I
really see these as being the two really
big policy ideas that the City of New
Westminster can be leaders in when it
comes to addressing one of the biggest
crises that Metro Vancouver is facing
regarding housing affordability,” he said.

“ex
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Photo by Analyn Cuarto