Seven months after he delievered letters to the almost 340 sitting MPs in Ottawa, Noah Irvine‘s call for action on mental health issues and addictions seems to finally be getting some traction.
In his young life, Irvine has been struck by tragedy twice. He lost his mother to suicide when he was just five and his father died of a drug overdose two years ago.
While he’s only received 60 responses to date, the 17-year-old’s efforts led him back to Parliament Hill Thursday for a meeting with the Canadian Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor.
The two main points of Irvine’s campaign are the implementation of a national suicide prevention strategy, which currently exists only as a framework, and a mental health secretariat in the Prime Minister’s Office.
After he emerged from his half-hour meeting with the minister, Irvine told reporters he was happy with the way his concerns were received.
“I think it’s a good first step,” he said.
“Obviously, the greatest step would be that a secretariat is put in immediately. That can’t happen with government. Things take a while in this part of the world. But a secretariat, I feel is coming, and could come, come the next budget.”
READ MORE: Teen who lost parents to mental illness takes campaign for national strategy to Ottawa
While Petitpas Taylor praised Irvine as “quite an inspiration” and described their discussion as “fruitful,” she wouldn’t give any indication as to whether any of his proposals could someday see the light of day.
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“I’m going to be speaking to my cabinet colleagues and the Prime Minister and certainly ensure that we bring this story and this situation forward and continue the dialogue,” she said.
“My priority is to continue to work with all levels of government.”
Irvine’s advocacy has already received support at the provincial level. He was at Queen’s Park last week to support the second reading of a private member’s bill tabled by NDP Health Critic France Gelinas.
READ MORE: Ontario NDP proposes creation of new ministry to cover mental health and addictions
Bill 149, if enacted, would see the creation of a dedicated Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions in Ontario. The bill passed second reading and now awaits discussion at the government’s finance and economic affairs committee.
Irvine’s next meeting will take him all the way to the top. He told Global News he will have a personal phone discussion with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sept. 29.
In the meantime, he continues his call for responses from the over 270 MPs who have yet to respond to his letters.
“I had to apologize to Noah personally as well that I didn’t respond to his letter,” Petitpas Taylor said.
“Sometimes we just don’t see all the correspondence that’s come in.”
Irvine said his persistence is not a symptom of youth entitlement. He said it’s his way of holding politicians to account for the good of everyone.
“Mental (illness) affects every constituency in the country,” he said.
“It affects every riding, it affects every member… This is a fight that’s worth it to fight for.”
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