January 2022 Briefing Package

This briefing package is produced for City of Edmonton Councillors and the Mayor.  It is intended to provide the historical development of the Greater Edmonton Alliance policy advocacy campaign: Formal policy adoption of the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Safety in the Workplace.  

In addition, this package will inform Council about interesting new developments that fundamentally address previous concerns.  The Mental Health Action Team hopes to coordinate meetings to discuss these exciting new opportunities.

Who is the Greater Edmonton Alliance?

The Greater Edmonton Alliance (GEA) is an alliance of faith, labor, health education and community organizations dedicated to building a base of everyday civic leaders to effectively stand for change they want to see in their communities.

We are everyday people taking action together for the common good.  We are diverse voices of our community, building relationships across religion, race, class, and neighborhood lines.  We come together to build and exercise “power with” to make the positive changes we want to see in our region.

What is the problem?

On May 21, 2020, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres published a piece titled We Need to Take Action to Address the Mental Health Crisis in This Pandemic.  Guterres (2020) wrote:

The COVID-19 virus is not only attacking our physical health; it is also increasing psychological suffering…Even without the pandemic, one in four of us will suffer a mental health episode during our lifetimes. The shocks associated with COVID-19 are now pushing many towards greater fragility and pain: grief at the loss of loved ones; anxiety at the loss of jobs; isolation and restrictions on movement; difficult family dynamics; uncertainty and fear for the future. Each of these on its own can trigger or deepen distress. Today many people are suffering several simultaneously. (para. 1, 2)

Further, Guerres (2020) wrote, “I urge governments, civil society, health authorities and others to come together urgently to address the severe mental health consequences of this pandemic” (para 12.)

As the pandemic endures, the economy continues to struggle and the stress on families and individuals continues to mount. Thousands of workers have been without steady jobs for almost two years now.  Many activities vital to mental health well-being, such as recreation and social interactions, have been severely impacted.  Let's not forget to mention the stress due to the spread of the virus and all its' variants.  These combined stresses have many ramifications; intensifying the already extensive challenges with mental health and additions.  Many lives are being negatively impacted … or lost.

What is the solution?

Policy Objective: City of Edmonton to adopt "The Standard"

Mental health awareness is key.  When mental health becomes better understood, we believe people will be equipped to manage their own mental health well-being, assist others, and advocate on behalf of their community.  As such, GEA formed a Mental Health Action Team focused on ways we could improve mental health awareness.  One specific means to improve mental health awareness is through the workplace. 

Given the City of Edmonton employs 13,000 area residents, GEA and our member organizations are advocating the City of Edmonton to adopt the Standard.  The Standard is an internationally recognized tool aimed at the promotion of mental health through prevention of adverse workplace conditions.  Significantly, A recent study by the Mental Health Commission of Canada involving 250,000 Canadian workers reported 66% of organizations who have voluntarily adopted the Standard are now carrying out activities to raise awareness of mental health in the workplace.  GEA strongly believes this policy has great potential for improving mental health awareness for City of Edmonton employees, their families and their communities.

Timeline of Policy Advocacy Campaign

One purpose of this briefing package is to bring new and current Council Members up to speed on the efforts of the policy advocacy campaign.

December 2019 Action Assembly

After embarking on a lengthy listening tour, two pressing issues impacting Edmonton were identified as shared interests and values among the diverse members of our member organizations: addressing mental health and providing quality jobs.  Once identifying our issues, GEA organized a campaign for a call to action. 

On December 4th, 2019, GEA hosted approximately 100 delegates from the various member institutions.  Collectively, our members asked the City of Edmonton to take meaningful action on addressing mental health.  Here are the two initiatives presented:

  1. The City of Edmonton adopts The National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace; and
  2. The City of Edmonton establishes a fund that will subsidize mental health first aid training and provide financial support to community-based organizations conducting education, outreach and peer-to-peer support initiatives designed to reduce the stigmas and reach people with mental health concerns both in their workplace and in their community. 

Please view the briefing paper to learn more about the Action Assembly and the specific proposals.

January 2020 - November 2020

After the Action Assembly and in subsequent face-to-face meetings with City Council Members, The Mental Health Action Team learned there was broad support for this policy.  In fact, many Councillors were perplexed as to why this was not already a policy for The City of Edmonton.

In the months after the Action Assembly, the Mental Health Action Team set about to find out more in order to answer that question.  We spoke with several key officials within the corporation and again learned there was broad support for the Standard.  Our Action Team ascertained that the reason the Standard had not risen to official policy was because there had not been a concerted and sustained advocacy effort to achieve this.  It was not a function of a lack of support for the Standard.

November 16, 2020

Armed with the knowledge that the Standard had broad support from City Councillors and from within the Administration, our team approached Councillor Scott McKeen to be our "champion" on Council as he is a well-known supporter of mental health issues.  

Councillor McKeen believed an inquiry request on the current systems, programs, and other information would be helpful for City Council in making a decision on adopting the policy.  On November 16, 2020, Councilor McKeen formally inquired.  The Minutes read:

Can Administration bring a report on the process for implementing the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace for employees of the City of Edmonton.

Due Date: February 19, 2021, Executive Committee

November 2020 - March 2020

While waiting for the report from Administration, our Mental Health Action Team went to work on gaining support.  Over the next three months, the team approached our affiliated organizations asking for them to endorse the adoption of the Standard as official City of Edmonton policy.  We received ten official endorsements representing many thousands of Edmontonians.  Please view the endorsement letters listed below.

March 4, 2021 Action Assembly

With our endorsements tucked in our pocket, The Greater Edmonton Alliance set out to host another Action Assembly.  We wanted to show the incredible display of community support behind this policy before the March 22, 2021 Executive Committee meeting.

75 individuals attended the virtual Action Assembly with delegates from 18 affiliate and supporting organizations.  Also in attendance were several Provincial Members of the Legislature representing both political parties.  

You can review the briefing materials here

March 22, 2021

Executive Committee Discussion

The debate on the adoption of the Standard as policy was set for March 22, 2021.  City Administration provided the report requested by Councilor McKeen in November of 2020.  Supplementary documents were provided including a position paper on behalf of the Administration and a summary of the application of the 13 factors recommended within the Standard.

In addition, The Greater Edmonton Alliance prepared and delivered a presentation to the Executive Committee.

The Mental Health Action Team strongly encourages City Councilors to watch the Executive Committee proceedings in order to understand the position of the Administration and the subsequent motion that was passed.  Here is the motion as recorded in the March 22, 2021 Executive Committee Minutes

That Administration provide a report to Committee on it’s employee psychological health and safety programs and practices, utilizing the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace as a benchmark to meet or exceed, and include recommendations for regular reporting. Due Date: First Quarter 2022

The Mental Health Action Team walked away with four key take-aways from these proceedings. 

  1. Administration agrees that the Standard is a great tool for providing guidance on psychological safety. 
  2. Administration is aligning their programs and systems within the Standard's framework. 
  3. Administration does not believe they have the resources and adequate budget to implement the psychological safety management system
  4. No formal accreditation process exists

March 2021 - present

After the motion was passed at the Executive Committee, the Mental Health Action Team considered the key take-aways from the proceedings.  Our team felt that this was a very good starting point but we all agreed to continue advocating for the formal adoption of the Standard as our end goal.

Additionally, as you are all aware, municipal elections took place in 2020.  Our team decided we needed to reach out and brief the new Council on the history of the advocacy campaign as well as reiterate our commitment to the policy.  As we were creating our briefing package, our research came across a very interesting development.

This leads us to our current actions.

New Opportunities

The Mental Health Action Team was performing research into existing Psychological Safety Management Systems, they found something quite unexpected - An announcement by the University of Calgary that they had succeeded in "achieving silver-level certification for workplace mental health".  Naturally, that prompted the team to investigate further.  Here are the findings:

Excellence Canada is an independent, not-for-profit organization dedicated to organizational performance across Canada.  In speaking with Russ Gahan of Excellence Canada, our team learned their organization has been working with the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) to design and implement a certification program.  The Mental Health at Work Certification is the only accredited program of it's kind approved by the MHCC and it aligns with the framework of the Standard.  

Russ Gahan, Vice President of Operations, was kind enough to elaborate on this certification.  First, a benchmark assessment would be performed.  This is an analysis of the organization's programs, policies, and practices.  From that benchmark assessment, Excellence Canada provides a detailed report.  The report includes a gaps analysis, a plan to get to the next level of implementation, and recommended actions to achieve that target.  The certification is based on the level of implementation of the Standard after an assessment is completed. This process is repeated at regular intervals ranging from 18 months to two years.  In addition, Excellence Canada performs the service of transferring these assessment and planning skills to key officials within an organization itself.

The Ask

Over the next few months, and prior to the expected report from Administration, the Mental Health Action Team requests two commitments from each Council Member:

  1. Excellence Canada has offered to provide a virtual seminar of their certification program for the City Council and Mayor to attend and ask questions.  They will bring their subject matter experts in hopes to be as thorough and transparent as possible.  The Mental Health Action Team asks for the commitment from each Councillor and from the Mayor to attend this virtual seminar.
  2. The Mental Health Action Team requests one-on-one virtual meetings with each City Councillor and the Mayor to discuss the certification package.

Please contact Gary Savard with your reply as soon as possible.  In addition, if you intend to participate in the virtual seminar, please provide a few options of your availability in February.

Many regards and thank you for taking the time to read this briefing package.  If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us

Brandi Thorne (Co-Chair Mental Health Action Team)

Jo-Ann Kobylka (Co-Chair Mental Health Action Team)