Michelle Ferreri Tells A Story Of A Peterborough Woman In Her Maiden Speech

Member of Parliament Michelle Ferreri gave her maiden speech at the House of Commons on Dec. 16.

In Ferreri’s first ever speech she brought to light the mental health crisis in Peterborough-Kawartha.

She told the story of Cassie, a Peterborough local who struggled with her mental health.

On Sept. 20, Cassie passed away. Ferreri made a promise to Cassies’s mother that her story wouldn’t end in vain, and that she would work to help the other ‘Cassies’ in Peterborough.

“Cassie is the real example of what needs to be solved and the crisis we’re living in,” said Ferreri. “Her mom wanted her story shared. She wants people to know what happened.”

When Ferreri posted a video of her clip on Facebook, members of the community and Cassie’s family members expressed their praise in the comments.

“I wrote the speech myself, I didn’t have any help or input on what I chose to write. I think I’ll be able to look back on my maiden speech in the future and it will remind me of why I started this. There’s days when it gets hard and overwhelming but I can go back to my maiden speech and be reminded of why I’m doing this and what I’m trying to achieve.”

Ferreri also noted how COVID-19 has magnified the opioid and mental health crisis, and that Canada needs to learn to live with COVID.

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