I am a Canadian-Australian social worker, mental health advocate, pro-democracy activist and whistleblower living in Canberra, Australia (LinkedIn).

Mental illness and mental health recovery are both poorly understood and negatively impacted by ignorance, stigma and discrimination, contributing to extremely poor outcomes for millions of people in the world, including suicide.

According to research “many people describe stigma as being worse than the condition itself” (The Lancet, 2022). A report by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Employment in Australia identifies that stigma came close to resulting in my own suicide (Work Wanted, 2012, p.19). 

While mental health recovery-oriented services are chronically under-funded by governments globally, the collective ignorance demonstrated by Canadian politicians towards mental illness warrants special attention. Under the leadership of former prime minister Justin Trudeau, legislation was enacted to expand the eligibility of medical assistance in dying (MAID), permitting medical practitioners the ability to administer lethal injections to people who express a desire to die and whose sole medical condition is mental illness. “The eligibility date for person’s suffering solely from a mental illness [for death by MAID] is now March 17, 2027” (Government of Canada). 

Patrick W. Corrigan was an American distinguished professor, mental health scholar, researcher, social scientist and a world-leading expert on the stigma of mental illness (obituary). 

Shortly after Mr. Trudeau became prime minister of Canada, Professor Corrigan sent him an open letter addressing my experience of severe mental illness in Canada and subsequent recovery in Australia, concluding with his assessment: “Knowledge of Mr. Mahar’s story will serve to challenge the stigma of mental illness, raise awareness of recovery, and inspire hope for people with mental health problems and their families” (Patrick W. Corrigan, February 22, 2016). 

I want to use my story to challenge stigma, raise awareness of recovery and inspire hope, as well as to publicly voice my opposition to the expansion of MAID’s eligibility to individuals whose sole medical condition is mental illness, and for one additional public interest objective. 

Five days before Professor Corrigan sent his open letter to the prime minister, I had sent my open letter and documents to Mr. Trudeau. In that open letter, I identified myself as a former insider in the Canadian broadcasting industry and identified an ongoing case of long-term systemic corruption involving public officials at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) — a case of corruption hereinafter referred to as the “File 1000-121 Affair” (Keith Mahar, February 17, 2016) 

It is a matter of public record that as activist-whistleblower, I have challenged “some of the most powerful vested interests in the country” (Global Television, August 8, 1995), initiated a precedent-setting legal case (Mahar v Rogers Cablesystems Ltd.) and generated questions in Canada’s House of Commons about the File 1000-121 Affair in two different millennia: (March 30, 1995) and (February 8, 2008). 

It is the right time for me to again actively advocate for an investigation into the File 1000-121 Affair, and in the process simultaneously demonstrate that recovery from severe mental illness is possible.

The documents available in this website’s archive — and the content posted on YouTube — substantiate the facts being presented.