Thoughts on BC Politics and More

The federal government is considering whether to pause its original plan to broaden the rules that govern medically assisted dying so they include patients whose only underlying condition is a mental disorder ... ... It would be the second time the federal Liberals have hit pause on the plan. The first came in February, when the government decided to impose a one-year delay amid widespread public and political concern ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Below is the text of my keynote remarks at this week’s World Suicide Prevention Day event held at St. Andrew’s on the Square (Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019). About 100 people attended the event to honour loved ones lost to suicide. By MEL ROTHENBURGER ... used with permission THIS PAST MARCH, the headline on one of my Saturday columns for CFJC was “We’ve got to talk about suicide.” The column began, “ A year ago on Thursday, my daughter Edyn killed herself. She was 38. A year before that, in the same month, her son, my grandson Mykel, killed himself. He was 16 .” I went on to discuss the issue of the stigma of suicide from the perspective of someone who has experienced it through the loss of loved ones. I’m far from an expert on suicide but I’ve become much more of an expert than I ever wanted to be. What I’ll say tonight comes mainly from that personal experience — backed up with a little reading — and it might not jibe with the views and ...

The other day I had the opportunity to speak with Emily Olsen, who some of you will know as the wife of Green Party MLA Adam Olsen.  I asked for the opportunity to speak with her because like me, and millions of other Canadians, she had gone through her own journey with mental health ... and it was a subject she said could talk about all day long.  It took her up on that offers and first asked, “ How do people take those first journeys to get there ...”   So, I did go off my medication ... I went off cold turkey, and I’m okay, I’m still talking to you today.  I went off the 2 nd week of September 2014.  Essentially I’d kind of had enough, and had tried for years to go off medication. Every time I tried to go off I seemed to have this strange effect where I’d go into a state of a bit of anxiety and I would then be overwhelmed with just this awful life- consuming depression.  I would kinda be on another planet for a month at a time ... and I would h...