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Stigma, prejudice and discrimination continue to be major barriers to recovery for people with mental health conditions.
Patrick W. Corrigan — a world-leading expert on this subject — sent an open letter to Justin Trudeau when he was prime minister of Canada.
In his open letter, Professor Corrigan addressed my experience of severe bipolar disorder in Canada and recovery in Australia, stating: "Knowledge of Mr. Mahar's story will serve to challenge the stigma of mental illness, raise awareness of recovery, and inspire hope for people with mental health problems and their families."
Unfortunately, it is not possible to understand my story without some basic knowledge about a case of long-term systemic corruption directly involving the actions of public officials at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and multi-billion-dollar corporations, while also implicating several members of cabinet in four successive federal governments. I call it the "File 1000-121 Affair".
Fortunately, the key to unlock the door to understand the File 1000-121 Affair is one single regulation enacted by the CRTC a long time ago — hereinafter referred to as either "Regulation 18(6.3)" or "One Media Law" (read).
Earlier this year, I filed a submission to the CRTC which addresses Regulation 18(6.3) and the File 1000-121 Affair (read). In good faith, I subsequently notified CRTC Chairperson Vicky Eatrides about the nature of the intervention and requested an opportunity to participate in a public hearing into Canadian content (Cancon), while stating that I did not want to be discriminated against by the CRTC (read).
However, I was not permitted to participate in the public hearing, which ended on May 27th.
In fact, I've been banned from participating in two public hearings since disclosing my prior experience of mental illness to the CRTC in my 2021 intervention: (read) Power, Profiteering, Plutocracy and CRTC Decision 1000-121.
Why?
It is a matter of public record that I possess expert knowledge about Cancon funding related to Regulation 18(6.3) and the File 1000-121 Affair. For example, Justice Robert Sharpe designated me as a public interest litigant in Mahar v Rogers Cablesystems Ltd. and I also generated debate in Canadian parliament in both 1995 (watch) and 2008 (watch) after addressing Regulation 18(6.3) and the File 1000-121 Affair.
When I originally campaigned for an investigation into Regulation 18(6.3) a few journalists, including Peter Kent — a highly respected news anchor at the time on Global Television — informed Canadians that I was challenging some of the most powerful vested interests in the country (watch).
Dan McTeague — a Liberal Member of Parliament at the time — stated publicly that my analysis of Regulation 18(6.3) was "dead on" and that my campaign for an investigation into Regulation 18(6.3) was likely to "offend a lot of people in high places", while also saying that he thought I was "slightly ahead of [my] time" (watch).
In any event, I've thought of an innovative approach to publicly address these two important public interest issues simultaneously. I am going to raise awareness of mental health recovery by raising awareness of the File 1000-121 Affair.
The background conditions are excellent to finally get an investigation into the File 1000-121 Affair, by getting questions raised in Canadian parliament a third time. But this time, the right questions (which I will provide to selected politicians) and supported by information and documents on this website, as well as information and videos that I post on LinkedIn, YouTube and X (@1activist)
Consequently, I have named the 2025 campaign 'Demonstrating Recovery: Strike 3'.
Note: This website is presently being updated and is a work in progress.