Mental health care for rural Black people in N.S. lacking, year after Desmond report

A lack of mental health care tailored to rural Black Nova Scotians is one of several problems yet to be properly addressed by the province.

A lack of mental health care tailored to rural Black Nova Scotians is one of several problems yet to be properly addressed by the province, more than one year after an inquiry report into the Lionel Desmond tragedy recommended reforms.

Desmond, a former infantryman with severe post-traumatic stress disorder and depression who saw intense combat in Afghanistan in 2007, died by suicide Jan. 3, 2017. Before he shot himself with the semi-automatic rifle he had purchased earlier that day, he shot and killed his wife, their daughter, and his mother in their home in Upper Big Tracadie, N.S.

Part of the $3.4-million fatality inquiry into the deaths explored the challenges faced by rural African Nova Scotians, like Desmond, when attempting to access mental health services. It recommended that the Health Department provide more virtual care to rural Black communities, and hire more Black mental health workers to provide “culturally informed” care.

The department said in an email that since the report released Jan. 31, 2024, there has been “an overall expansion of virtual care across the province.”

But in an interview earlier this week, Lana MacLean, a social worker who gave evidence to the inquiry, said, “It just seems the virtual care they’re providing doesn’t really drill down to the culturally diverse needs of African Nova Scotians in rural communities.”

However, a larger problem in the way the province has responded to the report’s 25 recommendations is a lack of transparency, Adam Rodgers, a lawyer who represented the estate and some of Desmond’s family members during the inquiry, said in a recent interview.

“It’s hard to see where the work is being done, if anywhere. At this point, ‘wait and see’ is starting to sound more like, ‘maybe never,'” he said.

The inquiry report called for a committee to ensure its findings aimed at improving supports for veterans like Desmond “are not lost in the passage of time.”