Article By Maria McLean. Last year, we published an op-ed on Bell’s involvement in the prison phone system and the hypocrisy of Bell championing itself as an advocate for mental health on “Bell Let’s Talk Day” while profiting from the exploitation of prisoners’ mental health. “Bell Let’s Talk” is a corporate mental health initiative run by a monolithic telecom empire called Bell, also known as Bell Canada. Through the COVID-19 crisis to date, the program has supported 40 women struggling with trauma-related mental illness by providing cultural programming such as beading and talking circles and facilitating access to community mental health resources. Today is Bell Let’s Talk Day. Tweet. Help us produce more like it by donating $1, $2, or $5. If Bell wants to get serious about mental health, it has to talk about the prison industrial complex and the direct role it plays in it. Learn more on the Bell blog about our 2020 Community Fund partner YWCA NWT, who are working to increase access to mental health support for women in the Northwest Territories through their Feeding our Spirit: Trauma Recovery & Support Program for Northern Women. While we continue to learn about the Synergy contract, what we know is that it raises the same concerns as Bell’s. Specifically, CPEP has demanded: This groundwork came to a head last January when Toronto Prisoners’ Rights Project (TPRP), Prisoners’ AIDS/HIV Support Action Network (PASAN), Ryerson University’s Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy (CSSDP) and other activist groups collectively organized around the same demands. We have to fight the very existence of prisons and the systems of punishment and criminalization upon which they are built. While much has changed since then, prisons and the police remain death machines that kill Black, Indigenous, racialized, migrant, Muslim, trans, queer, disabled, and poor people as the public lynching of George Floyd, and the tragic deaths of Eishia Hudson, Chantel Moore, D’Andre Campbell, Ejaz Choudry, and Regis Korchinski-Paquet remind us. For a list of organizations that may be of support to you, please visit the Get Help page of our website at bell.ca/letstalk. Did you like this article? Email. An Ottawa lawyer is calling out Bell Media for reaping the PR benefits of its mental health campaign Bell Let's Talk while profiting off the backs of some of Ontario's most vulnerable people. Now, let’s take it one step further. But instead of establishing free phone calls, no time limits, and enabling direct calls to cellphones, the province picked up a new contract with Synergy Inmate Phones, a Texas-based telecommunications company that does not align with these demands. The 10th edition of Bell Let's Talk Day was the most successful one yet, logging 154,387,425 interactions and raising $7,719,371.25 for mental health initiatives. Founded in 2010, the annual event has been crucial in reducing the stigma and helping raise awareness and funds for mental health and mental health illnesses around the world. Families have reported paying $700 or more a month, a significant burden on them for simply (and rightfully) wanting to connect with loved ones, and/or in an effort to provide them with the legal and re-entry support which they are entitled to. A commission is also taken from the money charged, which is put toward a prisoner trust fund. Watch and share to show your support. Bell Let’s Talk: The impact of lock downs short and long term. Meanwhile, the Ontario government collected “kickbacks” from the money Bell took from prisoners’ loved ones. Every time this video is viewed today, Bell will donate 5¢ more towards Canadian mental health initiatives. It is the program of state violence that targets and criminalizes BIPOC, the LGBTQ+ community, and people in poverty that drives the creation of prisons and their oppressive conditions. *This page is operated by the Bell Letâs Talk Social Media Team and is not moderated 24/7. COVID-19 outbreaks in prisons throughout the country have forced prisoners to go on hunger strikes just to get Personal Protective Equipment and hygiene products as the state continues to neglect their health and safety. The good news is that as a result of tireless prisoner organizing and mass mobilization, concessions have been won from the state in the last year. If prisons can’t even do what they claim to, do they really exist to protect community safety? By Gabby Aquino, Adam Lee and Lydia Dobson. The Marilyn Denis Show. Phones inside prisons represent a lifeline to loved ones, legal support, and successful return to community, all of which sustain people. Bell Let's Talk • 41 Pins. Bell Let's Talk • 46 Pins. Today is the 11th annual Bell Let’s Talk Day and everyone’s invited to join the conversation to support people living with mental illness while also driving up Bell’s donations to mental health programs just by getting engaged. Learn more or register at: https://lnkd.in/eBYgREe #BellLetsTalk, This website uses cookies to improve service and provide tailored ads. You cannot humanize human cages. All rights reserved. Bell Let’s Talk promotes awareness and action about mental health with a four-pillar strategy: Anti-stigma: a movement to get rid of the negative stigma surrounding mental illness through education, awareness and understanding, allowing all to feel capable of speaking freely and shame-free about their mental health conditions. As part of the campaign, Bell Canada will donate $0.05 for every applicable share, view, and text message sent. Why Bell Let's Talk Day Is a Cynical Publicity Stunt We need progressive organizations to build off the publicity of Let's Talk and call for a new day: Let's Act. Now, let’s take it one step further. Guest: Dr. Vivien Lee, C.Psych. Every time this video is viewed today, Bell will donate 5¢ more towards Canadian mental health initiatives. Phone communications also function as an important information source in light of the lack of institutional transparency, which remains a major issue as demonstrated by institutions’ systemic failure to provide information about the impacts of COVID-19 in prisons currently. This organizing and action drove Ontario’s recent decision not to renew Bell’s prison phone contract. 2016). Bell Let ' s Talk (Quebec French: Bell Cause pour la cause) is an awareness campaign created by the Canadian telecommunications company, Bell Canada, in an effort to raise awareness and combat stigma surrounding mental illness in Canada. First, a dose of reality: our prisons are Dickensian hellholes. This initiative began in 2011, with the last business day in January designated as “Bell Let’s Talk Day” each year. It is not the virus that is the crisis; the crisis is prisons themselves and the reliance on punishment as a replacement for care. And if so, whose safety? We and third parties such as our customers, partners, and service providers use cookies and similar technologies ("cookies") to provide and secure our Services, to understand and improve their performance, and to serve relevant ads (including job ads) on and off LinkedIn. We've started a conversation about mental health. When it comes to mental health, now more than ever, every action counts. Bell Let’s Talk Day is a campaign that began in 2010, in which the telecommunications giant donates five cents for every text, wireless and long distance call by customers and any social media post that includes #BellLetsTalk. Montréal, Wednesday, January 27, 2021. Now in its 11 th year, the campaign is dedicated to creating a Canada free from the stigma that surrounds mental illness by building awareness and … These phone services whether provided by Bell, Synergy or the next company are not set up to serve the needs of prisoners and their families, they are set-up to turn a profit for the company that holds the contract. And the count is in: Canadians and people around the world set all-new records for engagement in the mental health conversation on Bell Let’s Talk Day 2021, sharing 159,173,435 messages of support and driving $7,958,671.75 in new mental health funding by Bell. Rehabilitation is an increasing myth in Ontario’s jails. Don't miss this opportunity to: The struggle against prisons, police, and capitalism is as strong as ever, and there are many victories to be won through direct action and community organizing. 792 talking about this. Lydia Dobson is a member of the Toronto Prisoners’ Rights Project and Criminalization and Punishment Education Project and a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. Read more. The pandemic further compounds the historical and ongoing violence of the police, prisons, and the settler colonial state of Canada. A special Bell Let’s Talk Facebook frame and Snapchat filter will be launched, and five cents will be donated every time someone uses the frame.
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