- With Bell donating 5 cents for
each of your messages, that's $5,472,585.90 more in funding for Canadian mental
health
- More than 3 million tweets made Bell Let's Talk the #1 Twitter
trend in Canada and #3
worldwide
- Clara Hughes and millions of
Canadians talked about mental health to help break the stigma
around mental illness - now let's keep the conversation going!
MONTREAL,
Jan. 29, 2014 /CNW Telbec/ - A record
number of people across the country, indeed across North America, joined Canadian Olympian and
Bell Let's Talk national spokesperson Clara
Hughes and friends in the conversation to break the stigma
and move Canadian mental health forward. Thanks to your outstanding
response - a total of 109,451,718 tweets, texts, calls and shares
on Bell Let's Talk Day 2014 - Bell will donate a further
$5,472,585.90 to Canadian mental
health programs.
"Thank you everyone! I am just blown away by your incredible
support for those struggling not only with mental illness but also
with the stigma that still surrounds the disease. Talking openly
and positively is the first and most important step we can take in
promoting Canada's mental health," said Clara. "And wow did you
talk, beating our target of 100 million messages and driving
unprecedented donations to mental health by Bell. To think how far
we've come in 4 years - from minimal attention to and even fear of
discussing mental health to domination of the conversation. We
talked all day, in every way, and we're going to keep on talking to
improve Canada's mental health. I'm looking forward to the Big
Ride!"
"When we embarked on the Bell Let's Talk journey 4 years ago,
making mental health the focus of Bell's investment in the
community, the cause was largely in the shadows. Mental illness
just wasn't an issue corporate Canada talked much about despite the
incredible impact of the disease on individuals, families,
workplaces and our national economy," said George Cope, President and CEO of Bell Canada and BCE. "Now, everyone is
overwhelmed by how deeply Canadians have embraced the cause,
fighting the stigma by talking openly and positively and driving
new funding for mental health care and research. Thank you Canada -
your participation in Bell Let's Talk Day 2014 brings our total
current Bell Let's Talk commitment to $67,515,875.20."
Bell Let's Talk Day 2014 results:
- Bell Let's Talk Day 2014 resulted in a total of 109,451,718
messages, including tweets using #BellLetsTalk (3,016,621);
Facebook shares (313,151); and text messages, mobile calls, and
long distance calls by Bell and Bell Aliant customers (106,121,946)
- an overall 14% increase over the 96,266,266 messages last
year.
- Twitter propelled Bell Let's Talk Day like never before, with
#BellLetsTalk the top Twitter trend yesterday in Canada and #3 in the world, and topics like
mental health also trending throughout the day. The 3,016,621
tweets and retweets on Bell Let's Talk Day 2014 were 93% more than
the 1,562,485 sent in 2013.
- We thank the hundreds of thousands of Canadians from coast to
coast to coast who supported the cause on Twitter including
Governor General David Johnston,
Prime Minister Stephen Harper,
leaders of Canada's political parties and other members of
Parliament, provincial premiers and ministers, mayors and other
civic leaders across Canada, hospitals and universities, the
Canadian Armed Forces, Olympians, professional sports teams and
players, major corporations including Bell competitors, and a broad
range of Canadian and U.S. entertainers who drove hundreds of
thousands of retweets from fans. To see a list of high-profile Bell
Let's Talk tweeters, please visit LetsTalk.Bell.ca.
Clara's Big Ride for Bell Let's Talk
Keeping the momentum from Bell Let's Talk Day 2014 rolling,
Clara Hughes will soon set out on
Clara's Big Ride for Bell Let's Talk. Supporting local mental
health initiatives by community groups, schools and other local
organizations in every province and territory, Clara's 110-day
journey around Canada by bicycle begins March 14, spans 12,000 kilometres and will visit
95 Canadian communities, concluding in Ottawa on Canada
Day, July 1. For more
information, please visit Bell.ca/ClarasBigRide.
Thanks to all our partners
Bell Let's Talk thanks the incredible array of Canadian
corporations, associations and other organizations who helped
spread the mental health message word through media, events and
other promotions leading up to Bell Let's Talk Day:
- Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television
- Banff World Media Festival
- Basketball Canada
- Bell Media
- Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Radio-Canada
- CBS Outdoor
- Calgary Stampede
- Canadian Armed Forces
- Canadian Curling Association
- Canadian Media Production Association
- Canadian Olympic Committee
- Canadian Paralympic Committee
- Canadian Soccer Association
- Cineplex Inc.
- Cogeco/MetroMedia
- Festival d'été de Québec
- Festival International de Jazz de Montréal
- Francofolies
- The Globe and Mail
- Lamar Advertising
- La Presse/Gesca Limitée
- MLSE - Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment
- Monster Media
- Montréal Canadiens
- Montréal en Lumière
- National Basketball Association
- National Hockey League
- National Newswatch
- National Post/Postmedia Network
- Oshawa Generals
- Ottawa Senators
- Pattison Outdoor
- Rogers Communications
- Toronto International Film
Festival
- Toronto Maple Leafs
- Toronto Raptors
- Toronto Star/Torstar Corporation
- Twitter Canada
- Vancouver Whitecaps FC
In addition, more than 150 Bell community and mental health
partners, as well as chambers of commerce, colleges and
universities across Canada helped spread the word through events,
social media, websites, and newsletters.
Bell Let's Talk in action
As part of this year's campaign, Bell Let's Talk recently announced
4 new mental health partnerships: A $2.5
million donation for Kids Help Phone to support the mental
health of young people in Canada;
the $1 million Bell Canada Chair in
Adolescent Mood & Anxiety Disorders at Sunnybrook Hospital in
Toronto; $225,000 for the Université Laval Foundation in Québec City to support
student mental health; and, in partnership with Morneau Shepell and Queen's University, Canada's
first university-certified workplace mental health training program
in support of Canada's National Standard for Psychological Health
and Safety in the Workplace.
The $1-million annual Bell Let's
Talk Community Fund provides grants of $5,000 to $50,000 to local organizations,
hospitals and agencies focused on improving access to mental health
care in their communities in every region of Canada. Applications
for the 2014 Fund are now open. To learn more please visit
LetsTalk.Bell.ca.
SOURCE Bell Canada