Media Release: Hope Can't Wait Campaign Relaunches with Growing National Coalition Calling for a National Suicide Prevention Strategy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 31 AUGUST 2026

HOPE CAN’T WAIT CAMPAIGN RELAUNCHES WITH GROWING NATIONAL COALITION CALLING FOR A NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION STRATEGY

HAMILTON, ON - The Hope Can’t Wait Campaign is relaunching its national call to create and implement a comprehensive National Suicide Prevention Strategy for Canada, alongside a growing coalition of national, provincial, territorial and community partners.

Originally launched in 2026 by Ontario mental health advocate Joshua Bell, the Hope Can’t Wait Campaign was created to bring Canadians together around a simple message: suicide prevention is everyone’s business, and hope can’t wait.

Today, that call is growing.

Organizations and advocates from across Canada and internationally are joining the campaign to call for a coordinated national approach that strengthens prevention, improves access to supports, establishes clear accountability and ensures that suicide prevention remains a sustained national priority.

Recent partners supporting the call include the Canadian Mental Health Association (National), Canadian Mental Health Association – Alberta Division, Centre for Suicide Prevention, jack.org, LGBT YouthLine, International Association for Suicide Prevention, Mental Health Rights Coalition, and the Suicide Prevention Community Council of Hamilton, among many others. For more, visit hopecantwait.ca/supporters.

“The growing support from organizations across the country demonstrates that there is a clear and urgent call for national leadership. Canada needs a strategy that is measurable, accountable, properly supported and built to create lasting change for Canadians,” said Joshua Bell.

Canada currently has a National Suicide Prevention Action Plan, but the Hope Can’t Wait Campaign is calling for the federal government to take the next step and establish a comprehensive national strategy.

A national strategy should build on existing work while establishing clear national priorities, measurable reduction targets, dedicated and sustainable funding, accountability mechanisms, national standards of care, stronger collaboration between jurisdictions and a sustained whole-of-government approach.

“We know that organizations and communities across Canada are already doing important work in suicide prevention,” Bell said. “The question is how we bring that work together, strengthen it and ensure Canadians can benefit from a coordinated national approach. We cannot continue to treat suicide prevention as a series of disconnected efforts. We need national leadership, and we need it now.”

The relaunch comes as the campaign continues its advocacy with Parliament and the federal government. In March 2026, Petition e-7234 was submitted to the House of Commons calling for the creation and implementation of a National Suicide Prevention Strategy. The campaign has also called directly on Prime Minister Mark Carney and the federal government to take action in a 2 June 2026 open letter published by Bell.

The Hope Can’t Wait Campaign is inviting additional organizations, community leaders, professionals, people with lived experience and Canadians from coast to coast to coast to join the growing national movement.

For more information, visit hopecantwait.ca.

ABOUT HOPE CAN’T WAIT
The Hope Can’t Wait Campaign is a national advocacy initiative calling for the creation and implementation of a comprehensive National Suicide Prevention Strategy for Canada.

Informed by professional and lived experience, the campaign works to reduce stigma, promote public education, support suicide prevention efforts and bring Canadians and organizations together around the need for coordinated national action.

The campaign believes a comprehensive national strategy should include measurable targets, clear accountability, dedicated long-term funding, national standards of care, stronger coordination across jurisdictions and a sustained whole-of-government approach.

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Media Contacts
Media Relations, Office of Joshua Bell Hope Can’t Wait Campaign
media-medias@ojb-bjb.ca info@hopecantwait.ca

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