MONTREAL – After donating 5 cents for every text and long distance call last Wednesday, Bell Canada (with the help of multiple Olympic medal-winner Clara Hughes) announced it raised over $3.3 million in support of Canadian mental health thanks to 66,079,236 total Bell text messages and long distance calls made that day by Bell and Bell Aliant customers.
Bell Let’s Talk Day invited Canadians to join the conversation to lift the stigma around mental illness. Led by national Bell Let’s Talk Day spokesperson Hughes (who has suffered from depression), Canadians talked and texted even more than the day her fellow Olympian Sidney Crosby scored hockey Gold for Canada at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games.
“I’m very proud to be part of the conversation with you that is doing so much to promote mental health across our great country,” said Hughes in thanking those who took part in the fundraiser.
“Canadians spoke loud and clear in their support of mental health on Bell Let’s Talk Day, and that means Bell will donate $3,303,961.80 in addition to the $50 million already committed to the five-year Bell Mental Health Initiative,” said George Cope, president and CEO of Bell and BCE in the company’s press release.
“To our wonderful national spokesperson Clara Hughes and to every Canadian talking to lift the stigma around mental illness health, we offer our thanks and congratulations for all you are doing for Canadian mental health.”
Bell Let’s Talk Day was supported by a national promotional campaign focused on the world-famous smile of Clara Hughes, Canada’s six-time Olympic medalist, who related her own story of depression in the campaign (which also featured appearances on Canada AM and TSN).
As part of the Bell Let’s Talk campaign, tens of thousands of Canadians joined the mental health conversation by visiting bell.ca/letstalk and posting their
smiles next to Hughes’.
As the high-profile anti-stigma component of the Bell Mental Health Initiative, Bell Let’s Talk Day encourages discussion of mental illness to help ensure people get the help they need. Most of the 1 in 5 Canadians who will suffer from mental illness in their lifetimes won’t seek treatment because of the stigma around the disease.
“Bell’s work to advance Canadian mental health is built on 4 Pillars: Anti-stigma, Care and Access, Research, and Workplace Health. We are incredibly grateful for the response to Bell Let’s Talk Day, which both supports new understanding and de-stigmatization of mental illness and enhances Bell’s support for all 4 Pillars of our program,” said Mary Deacon, chair of the Bell Mental Health Initiative.
