Most men have been taught to handle it themselves. The problem is that silence has a cost.

And Canada's Minister of Health — a woman, no less — isn't willing to stay quiet about it.

Loneliness gets brushed off as nothing. The pressure to "be strong" gets handed down to sons and grandsons. Addiction and suicide rates climb, and warning signs get missed because no one was ever supposed to ask for help in the first place.

In this episode of the Don't Change Much Podcast, hosts Mike Cameron and Trevor Botkin sit down with the Honourable Marjorie Michel to talk about the federal consultation on a national Men and Boys Health Strategy, and why she decided this was a challenge worth picking.

What started as a series of cross-country conversations turned into a wake-up call. Hon. Minister Michel shares how the same word kept coming up, trip after trip, across trades workers, fathers, and Indigenous communities alike, and how that pattern convinced her — a self-described lifelong feminist — that men's health needed its own seat at the table. The conversation moves through loneliness, the pressure to perform masculinity, the addiction and suicide statistics she can't ignore as Canada’s Health Minister, and why she believes progress for men and progress for women aren't in competition with each other.

You'll hear:

• Why the Minister calls herself "the holistic Minister of Health"
• How a pattern of conversations on the road turned into a national consultation
• The link between trades work, injury, and addiction
• Why men need space to talk without women in the room, and why that's not a "boys' club"
• What the Minister wants every man and boy to know about asking for help

Because no policy, no government, and no single person can carry this alone. Sometimes leadership just means opening the door to a conversation that's long overdue.

Get your Suspenders On this June. Wear them. Share why. Donate. Invite others.

Tag @menshealthfdn #SuspendersOn #NeverAlone #MensHealthMonth

Donate to Suspenders On: https://menshealthfoundation.ca/canadian-mens-health-month/

Follow Canadian Health Minister Marjorie Michel

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