Bell Canada awarded 2012 Award for Outstanding Corporation

Toronto (Ontario) April 1, 2012 – Bell Canada will receive the 2012 Award for Outstanding Corporation from the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) International at AFP’s annual conference taking place this year in Vancouver from April 1-3. The corporate giant was nominated for the prestigious award by the Toronto Chapter of AFP in recognition of Bell’s philanthropy and its extensive efforts to raise awareness of mental illness and eliminate the stigma surrounding this public health issue.

In 2011, Bell donated $10 million, the largest corporate donation ever to mental health in Canada, in support of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). Since then the company has sponsored Bell Let’s Talk Day, an annual anti-stigma campaign that forms the centerpiece of the company’s five-year, $50-million charitable program in support of mental health initiatives across Canada.

A major national promotional campaign carried the anti-stigma message of Bell Let’s Talk to Canadians across the country via television, print, radio and outdoor advertising, social media, special events, and the generous support of a vast range of media, sports, business and community organizations. Nearly $4 million dollars was raised on Bell Let’s Talk Day 2012, and innumerable awareness of the cause of mental health and the availability of help from organizations like CAMH.

“At least 1 in 5 Canadians will suffer from mental illness in their lifetime, but the unfortunate reality is that most won’t seek treatment because of the continuing stigma around the disease. Bell Let’s Talk Day sends the message to those who struggle with mental illness that Canadians want to listen and we want to help,” said George Cope, President and CEO of Bell Canada and BCE.

Bell’s landmark gift will support key priorities for CAMH, including:

• Enhanced access to care, knowledge and tools for primary care providers and other health professionals to help deliver better care to more people.
• Helping break down physical barriers to service by transforming CAMH's "front door", through the Bell Gateway Building. This building will serve as a central hub on the Queen Street campus; bringing together a variety of treatment programs including, key central clinical services, a new physiotherapy clinic, and CAMH's client-run Out of this World Café.

“We are grateful for Bell’s pioneering steps forward in building mental health system capacity. They’ve set the bar high for corporate Canada: inspiring others to invest in the work of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and in mental health as a whole,” said Darrell Gregersen.

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Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (www.camh.net)

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada's largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital, as well as one of the world's leading research centres in this field. CAMH combines clinical care, research, education, policy development and health promotion to help transform the lives of people affected by mental illness and addictions. CAMH is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, and is a Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Centre.

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Foundation (www.supportcamh.ca)

CAMH Foundation raises funds to support CAMH’s excellent patient care, insightful research and innovative programs to better understand, treat and prevent mental illness and addiction.

Media contact: Denise Koulis at (416) 535-8501 ext. 4395, denise_koulis@camh.net.