St. Boniface councillor Matt Allard is urging people to make their mental health a priority in the wake of a personal crisis he experienced earlier this month.
Allard, who returned to work at city hall on March 23, was driving to work on March 3 when he suffered a mental-health episode and was involved in a collision.
He doesn’t recall much about the incident. No one else was involved or injured, and there was limited damage to his vehicle.
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Coun. Matt Allard (St. Boniface) said sharing his experience is a way to spark conversations about mental wellness.
He did not disclose the specifics of the episode.
“I’m sharing this also in the hopes that by speaking openly about it it might encourage others to prioritize their own well-being,” he said Monday.
Allard, who has represented St. Boniface on council since 2014, posted to social media about experiencing a medical emergency that forced him to be off work for almost three weeks.
He was present at council’s meeting last Thursday.
Allard says he received treatment during his time away and is ready to serve his constituents again. He thanked the emergency workers who helped him after the incident, as well as the medical team who cared for him the following weeks.
Sharing his experience is a way to spark conversations about mental wellness, he said.
“I was part of the one in five Canadians who will experience a mental-health challenge in any given year,” Allard said.
Statistics from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health show that by the time Canadians reach the age of 40, one in two will have or will have had a mental illness.
The non-profit’s data also shows mental health continues to be stigmatized. A 2019 survey of working Canadians showed 75 per cent of respondents said they would be reluctant or refuse to disclose a mental illness to an employer or co-worker. The same study showed respondents were nearly three times less likely to want to disclose a mental illness such as depression than a physical one, such as cancer.
Statistics Canada data from 2022 shows more than five million Canadians 15 and older met the diagnostic criteria for a mood, anxiety or substance use disorder in the prior 12 months.
Allard currently sits on the community services committee, finance and economic development committee and the Riel community committee.
Coun. Evan Duncan saluted his co-worker’s candour about his situation and said Allard’s story may open the door for mental-health discussions among colleagues.
Being in a public-facing role comes with its difficulties, including the need to be available at all times and not having a traditional manager or supervisor you can speak to about your struggles, said Duncan (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood).
“Some people joke that we’re a glorified complaints department, and that can’t be good for mental health overall,” he said. “Nobody wants to go to work and just field complaints all the time.”
Ensuring a work-life balance is key for managing mental health as a politician, but it doesn’t always come easy, Duncan said.
“You have to have some time where you spend with just your friends and your family and make sure that you’re not always under the pressures that come with being an elected official,” he said.
Duncan hasn’t spoken with Allard since the incident, other than exchanging pleasantries on the council floor last Thursday.
In an email to the Free Press, North Kildonan Coun. Jeff Browaty said that it takes courage for politicians to be vulnerable, especially about health.
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“I commend my colleague for doing so and wish him well on his full recovery,” said Browaty, who sits on the finance committee with Allard.
Mayor Scott Gillingham’s spokesperson said the mayor was away this week and unavailable for comment.
In December, council approved a contract for a consultant to create a proposal for a specialized response unit that would respond to mental-health crises not requiring medical intervention, in an effort to ease pressure on current emergency services.
Winnipeg police respond to some 21,000 well-being calls every year, on average.
nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca
Nicole Buffie
Multimedia producer
Nicole Buffie is a reporter for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom as a multimedia producer in 2023. Read more about Nicole.
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