SBC is acquiring the long-running Canadian Gaming Summit, Canada’s premier annual conference and trade show for land-based and igaming professionals, from current joint owners the Canadian Gaming Association and MediaEdge Communications. This will all take place on June 7-9, 2022, Metro Toronto Convention Centre in downtown Toronto.

From February - April 2021, the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, the Canadian Psychological Association and Canada Health Infoway,  and the Canadian Centre for Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) collected national data on the experience and perceptions of virtual services and supports for substance use and concurrent disorders provided during COVID-19, including education and access to health care or treatment.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected marginalized groups, including 2SLGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness. According to the literature, this group has been experiencing higher rates of mental health and substance use issues since the pandemic started and also face greater risk of contracting COVID-19 and experiencing worse health outcomes. A research project, led by Dr.

The Federal Legal Act on PTSD Sc. 2018 c.13 should be widely promoted. It stated: "PTSD is a public health issue" and "Many people are at increased risk for PTSD as a result of experiences outside of an occupational setting such as survivors of sexual or interpersonal violence, refugees, LGBTQ2 populations, Indigenous Peoples, people experiencing homelessness, as well as survivors of major accidents or disasters."

"Decades of research has found that racialized citizens are diagnosed with [schizophrenia] at far higher rates – and the single biggest risk factor is having darker skin than most of their neighbours." Read The Globe and Mail article here.

To mark Pride, Statistics Canada recently posted an article with information about LGBTQ2+ Canadians. It shares a number of interesting pieces of information including:

as of 2018, LGBTQ2+ people made up 4% of Canada's population over 15, or 1 million peoplemore youth and young adults identify as LGBTQ2+.

As the Women’s Health Research Chair in Mental Health for the Faculty of Health at York University, Dr. Nazilla Khanlou says gender-based violence didn’t start with the pandemic, but the pandemic has made it worse.

“The ripple effects are going to continue for a long time to come.” she says.

The Ontario Cannabis Store has released their first-ever three-year social responsibility strategy!

The strategy's key pillars are:

1.      Sustainability: Establishing a Foundation for Sustainability2.      Inclusion: Creating a Diverse & Inclusive Industry 3.      Knowledge: Advancing Cannabis Knowledge & Promoting Responsible Consumption

A new survey is highlighting alarming trends that indicate the pandemic’s strain on the mental health of Ontarians has reached all-time highs.

The latest poll in a series conducted by Canadian Mental Health Association, Ontario, shows a troubling pattern of loneliness: More than half of Ontarians (57%) are lonelier since the start of the pandemic, almost half (47%) wish they had someone to talk to, and more than a third (36 per cent) say they are often, very often or almost always lonely.

Today, on National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, the government of Ontario introduced the Combatting Human Trafficking Act, new legislation and amendments to existing legislation that propose to better protect victims, support survivors and crack down on offenders.

Click here to read the press release.