In 2006, the Senate Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science, and Technology completed the first-ever national study of mental health, mental illness, and addiction.

The Committee’s concerns were detailed in its report, Out of the Shadows at Last – Transforming Mental Health, Mental Illness and Addiction Services in Canada which recommended the creation of a Mental Health Commission to provide an ongoing national focus for mental health issues.

The federal government created the MHCC the following year and named the chair of the Senate Committee, the Honourable Michael Kirby, as its first chairperson.The MHCC’s first mandate (2007-2017) was to create the country’s first mental health strategy.