Today on the Hill: Experts talk mental health, protecting aboriginal women

Photo: Facebook Page of Lisa Raitt

OTTAWA – While working as a high-powered lawyer, Lisa Raitt once found herself crying uncontrollably to an Avril Lavigne song in her car.

Today, several years after prevailing in her battle with postpartum depression, the federal cabinet minister will deliver opening remarks at a leading mental health conference taking place in Ottawa.

The transport minister will be joined at the two-day Canadian Depression Research and Intervention network conference by Sharon Johnston, the wife of Gov. Gen. David Johnston, and cabinet colleague Candice Bergen, minister of state for social development.

The conference will examine new ideas for confronting and dealing with mental health issues.

Here are some other events happening today on and around Parliament Hill:

— Four environmental groups, including Sierra Club Canada, will release documents detailing how Health Canada enforces its own demands for toxicity studies;

— The recently formed caucus of formerly Liberal senators will open its doors to the media for a discussion about the issue of murdered and missing aboriginal women;

— Former MP David Kilgour will host a panel discussion on the cost of human trafficking and how Canadian youth are being targeted;

— Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino is to appear at a Senate committee to discuss services provided to Canadian Forces members;

— Auditor general Michael Ferguson will be at the Commons public accounts committee to discuss his fall 2013 report on oversight of rail safety;

— Sue O’Sullivan, the federal ombudsman for victims of crime, appears at the Senate constitutional affairs committee to discuss Bill C-14, the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act;

— A panel of experts in the field of AIDS hold a roundtable discussion on HIV and global LGBTI rights;

— And Gov. Gen. David Johnston presents the 2014 Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts.