Let’s End the Corporatization of Mental Health Funding, Starting With #BellLetsTalk
For over a decade, one campaign has exploited well-meaning Canadian social media users.
While #BellLetsTalk Day might seem innocent and well-meaning on the surface, the posts and discussion generated by the campaign actually determines how much of Bell’s corporate wealth to donate to small mental health service organizations.
Every #BellLetsTalk you share, you are promoting one of Canada’s most profitable corporations. It’s easy to feel good about increasing donations with a simple hashtag share, but most people don’t realize — we are getting played.
The hashtag count tells Bell exactly how much of a tax break they’ll see at year-end. It also shows how much free promotion Bell got in one day. But, it’s our overpriced cell phone bills bankrolling this operation.
Am I blaming the entirety of mental health underfunding in Canada on #BellLetsTalk? No. My time as Manitoba’s Health Minister and years teaching in nursing, social work, and Indigenous studies revealed the inherent systemic issues that opened my eyes to the truth. One organization, minister, or government can’t solve this overnight.
Most people and governments don’t see or don’t want to see the collateral damage campaigns like these cause, but we can hold Bell accountable for its ongoing contribution to the underfunding of mental health services.
Below are some of the problematic elements associated with #BellLetsTalk and some proposed solutions.
#BellLetsTalk Removes Pressure From Governments
If corporations are donating to mental health organizations, there is less pressure for the government to increase and stabilize funding for these causes.
When these mental health organizations receive funding from Bell instead of the government, it keeps the baseline for the funding from the government low. In reality, Bell is covering costs of inflation and rising operational expenses. This starts a vicious cycle.
A minister’s budget lines stay smaller for a term. This artificially freezes required government spending amounts, preventing growth at necessary rates. This makes it harder to address gaps.
Each year the gaps get bigger, causing long-term systemic funding shortfalls.
The Precedent is Set to Ask Corporations First
The standard requirement on most government grant applications can be interpreted as: don’t come to us for money unless you already have money, or ask someone else for their money first.
Governments see having corporate funders as validation of an organization’s work, helping them decide whether to continue existing or start new government funding.
This sets the precedent for mental health organizations to continue accessing corporate money. As if supporting clients weren’t enough work, they now have to scramble to generate hashtags with hopes of receiving part of this funding.
These grassroots workers are promoting Bell — a company with more marketing resources than they could dream of. Can you see what’s wrong with this picture?
The Campaign Redirects Funding
The #BellLetsTalk campaign also shapes the direction of mental health and other healthcare funding. Money goes where private corporations want it to go: their pet projects or favoured organizations.
I can already hear the chorus of, “don’t government’s have pet projects too? What’s the difference, and does it matter?”
Yes, they can, but there’s a big difference. Spending priorities swing with each new government. The Canada Health Act helps keep healthcare priorities in check. It’s not perfect legislation, and I agree that it’s overdue in modernizing for prescriptions, dental coverage, and increasing preventative, community, and clinical mental health care services. All of which are mental health-related investments.
Still, it is a guiding framework for mental health investments, one that corporations lack when choosing where to bequest their tax deduction.
I understand questioning government investments. Just remember the more corporations influence funding processes, the worse the situation gets.
And we enable it when we participate in #BellLetsTalk day.
Your hashtag share means Bell pays less corporate tax. This takes significant amounts of money from the federal and provincial revenues used to pay for mental health services. Corporate tax rates have declined to less than half of what they were when Canada moved to publicly funded healthcare over 50 years ago.
Most of us are taxed at higher rates than big corporations, so corporations pay less to start, then get you to help them pay even less. Next, they swoop in to play hero throwing nickels in a fiscal hole they relentlessly dig.
If you want to increase funding to mental health services, step away from this hypocritical hashtag. Focus on the social media accounts, inboxes, and phone lines of your federal and provincial representatives. Contact the c-suite offices of those who play us with these PR games.
What We Should Really Talk About on #BellLetsTalk Day
Instead of promoting a hashtag that Bell created to lead a conversation that largely benefits themselves, let’s spread the word about:
‣ How corporations can do their part to better fund mental health services by paying taxes at rates like you and I do.
‣ How these taxes are the price of civilized society, including adequate mental health funding.
‣ How revenue for mental health care services is for governments to collect, and not grassroots organizations to beg for.
‣ How those, like myself, who live with diagnoses, are the ones to lead the conversations on mental health funding, not corporations looking for tax cuts concealed in hashtags.
Together, we create meaningful grassroots support and discussions that can shape the narrative about mental health and remove stigma — all without benefiting a corporation that isn’t actually interested in our well-being.
Sharon Blady is the founder of Speak Up: Mental Health Advocates and former Minister of Health. Previous to her time in office, she taught in nursing, social work and Native Studies at the University of Manitoba.
