OTTAWA \u2014 The upcoming launch of a national strategy on men\u2019s and boys\u2019 health is a positive sign that men\u2019s well-being is becoming part of the mainstream conversation in Canada, advocates say \u2014 even as they warn that it should not become partisan political fodder.<\/p>\n
The Movember Institute of Men\u2019s Health and researchers from the University of British Columbia called on the government to launch such a strategy in a report released last summer.<\/p>\n
Health Minister Marjorie Michel said she plans to launch a national strategy on men\u2019s and boys\u2019 health in 2026 by working with colleagues in multiple departments, including Veterans Affairs, Women and Gender Equality and Indigenous Services.<\/p>\n
Catherine Corriveau, Movember\u2019s director of policy and advocacy, said the government has taken an important first step by acknowledging the problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cMen and boys haven\u2019t really been part of the conversation in government policy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The Movember report\u2019s findings showed Canadian men are about three times more likely than women to die by suicide, and face significant barriers in seeking access to all kinds of health care.<\/p>\n
Corriveau said Canada can look to the United Kingdom and Australia for guidance \u2014 countries which have launched men\u2019s health strategies of their own.<\/p>\n
The U.K. strategy report points out that British men live shorter lives than women and are more likely to be diagnosed with cancer, cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes. Three out of four people who died by suicide in the U.K. in 2024 were men.<\/p>\n
The British report also states that \u201cgood health is not a zero-sum game and improving the health and well-being of men and women are complementary objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n
It calls for changes to the health-care system, better funding for disease prevention initiatives, and social change.<\/p>\n
The British report also notes that men are the primary perpetrators of violence against women and that exposure to domestic violence in childhood can increase one\u2019s risk of becoming a victim or a perpetrator of such violence in adulthood. It looks to close the gap in services for men and boys who are victims of violence at home.<\/p>\n
Michel\u2019s office said she plans to engage on the coming strategy with MPs from all sides of the House of Commons.<\/p>\n
One of the people who wants to be part of that discussion is Conservative MP Jamil Jivani, who has been gathering signatures for an open letter he presented to Prime Minister Mark Carney in late January calling for action to help young men \u201cin crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jivani said he thinks a national strategy is a win \u2014 as long as it\u2019s followed up by action.<\/p>\n
He echoed calls for investment in mental health care and addiction treatment programs and said the federal government needs to get serious about the number of young people who can\u2019t find jobs.<\/p>\n
Jivani has undertaken a tour of university campuses in Canada. In an interview with The Canadian Press in January, he said he hopes this will help him become \u201cthe country\u2019s No. 1 expert on what young people in Canada want for their future.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he\u2019d be willing to help the Liberal government in its efforts to draft a strategy, if it asked.<\/p>\n
The Ontario MP drew criticism from the Liberal benches and got a dismissive response from Carney last week when he travelled to Washington, D.C., to meet his longtime friend, Vice President J.D. Vance.<\/p>\n
It seems the reception from the government side will be different in this case: a spokesperson for Michel said her office will be in touch with Jivani soon.<\/p>\n
Jivani\u2019s interest in the issue predates his political career. His 2018 book \u201cWhy Young Men\u201d looked to explore how young men were becoming radicalized toward violence.<\/p>\n
He said he\u2019s seen a positive shift in the conversation since then.<\/p>\n
He said that as he wrote the book, he \u201cfelt like it was very difficult for people to acknowledge that young men might be in a disadvantaged position.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI really believe good-hearted, well-intentioned people used to feel that if you\u2019re talking about boys, you\u2019re taking something from girls, or vice versa, and I just think we\u2019re over that now.\u201d<\/p>\n
He chalked that up in part to social media, where he said men have been able to open up about their experiences and find support.<\/p>\n
But he acknowledged social media can also be a source of negative influences \u2014 particularly for young men who feel isolated and are susceptible to algorithms pushing them into darker spaces. Influencers like Andrew Tate, for example, \u201chave hatred in them toward women in many cases,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Corriveau said Movember is trying to reach young men online with more positive, healthier alternatives to the so-called \u201cmanosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it stems from bigger societal problems where men are feeling like they need to find answers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Corriveau said a public health approach is needed to deal with those problems.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a partisan issue,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OTTAWA \u2014 The upcoming launch of a national strategy on men\u2019s and boys\u2019 health is a positive sign…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":["post-462803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}