Keith Mahar is a social worker, mental health advocate and pro-democracy activist who lives with his partner Gail and their hound Gilbert in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). He is a dual Australian-Canadian citizen who holds degrees in business administration and social work.  

As a mental health advocate, Keith has delivered presentations at local, national and international conferences. He is a former board member of Mental Illness Education ACT and Mental Health Community Coalition of the ACT, as well as a former member of the National Mental Health Committee for the Australian Association of Social Workers and a member of the Disability Advisory Group for the Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis at the University of Canberra. In 2012, Australia's then Minister for Mental Health appointed Keith to a consumer reference group established to help shape mental health reforms (press release).

Some of Keith's personal insights into suicidal depression are presently available on 'Compassionate Foundations' — the award-winning suicide prevention eLearning suite developed by the Australian Public Service Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Unit. Members of the Australian Public Service across Australia have access to Compassionate Foundations, as well as public servants employed by the ACT Government.  

Part of Keith’s story of experiencing severe mental illness in Canada, and his subsequent recovery in Australia, has been addressed in Coming Out Proud to Erase the Stigma of Mental Illness (Corrigan, Larson and Michaels, 2015), programs broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Kimball, 2 August 2013; Tait, 27 September 2011) and a feature story in The Canberra Times (Cronin, 27 November 2010). He has also been acknowledged by Senator Carol Brown in the Australian Senate (Hansard, 15 June 2011). In 2015, former U.S. First Lady Rosalynn Carter described Coming Out Proud to Erase the Stigma of Mental Illness as “a seminal work that confronts stigma head on”.

As documented in his chapter (Changing My Mind) in that same book, Keith formerly had a corporate career in the Canadian broadcasting industry. During his tenure he became increasingly concerned by the regulation of the cable television industry by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). In 1995 he publicly challenged an unjust corporate enrichment scheme and some of the most powerful vested interests in the country, advocating for an investigation and generating questions to then Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in Parliament.

When politicians failed to address the matter, Keith — with assistance of a pro bono legal team — initiated a strategic legal proceeding against a company controlled by billionaire Ted Rogers — Mahar v Rogers Cablesystems Ltd. Although his corporate opponent won a precedent-setting decision on jurisdiction to stop the court from ruling on the case's merit, Justice Robert J. Sharpe designated him as a public interest litigant and made a precedent-setting decision on costs in his favour. As a result, Mahar v Rogers Cablesystems Ltd. continues to influence costs jurisprudence in public interest litigation in Canada and internationally, including Hlatshwayo and Others v Hein [Land Claims Court of South Africa-1997]; Oshlack v Richmond River Council [High Court of Australia-1998]; and Sangwa v Attorney General and Law Association of Zambia [Constitutional Court of Zambia-2023]. 

Following Justice Sharpe's ruling on jurisdiction, Keith  initated an official complaint (Cable Watch Citizens' Association) to the CRTC, alleging that the CRTC and corporations had acted unlawfully in relation to the unjust corporate enrichment scheme. As a result, the CRTC established File 1000-121. Without a public process, the CRTC subsequently ruled itself and multi-billion-dollar corporations innocent of acting unlawfully in an unpublished decision on June 25, 1996. However, the legality of that unpublished decision — a ruling on the legal rights and financial interests of approximately 6 million Canadians — remains an open question, as severe symptoms of bipolar disorder in 1996 stopped Keith from challenging the unpublished CRTC decision in the Federal Court of Appeal. Importantly, since the decision was not published, the millions of Canadians directly impacted by the CRTC decision were simply not in a position to file an appeal either.  

In 1998, less than 15 months after experiencing acute psychosis and requiring hospital care, Keith contributed to Bill C-381, a private member’s bill introduced by MP Dan McTeague that sought to amend the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Act in the public interest; and which died on the Order Paper when an early federal election was called in 2000. The same parliamentarian commissioned Keith to undertake research into reform of the federal regulator, resulting in a joint submission to the Liberal Caucus Group on the CRTC. 

Since 2004, Keith has provided several opportunities for Canada's federal government to address the unjust enrichment scheme and evidence of long-term systemic corruption at the CRTC. His objection to the scheme resulted in the issue being raised a second time in Parliament, during 2008. At that time, MP Libby Davies stated in Parliament that Canadians were owed more than $1.2 billion. However, Stephen Harper and his administration did not investigate the matter. Similarly, Justin Trudeau and various cabinet members ignored the issue. Prime Minister Mark Carney will soon be given an opportunity to address the ongoing issue.     

Keith hopes that his activism will ultimately result in a public inquiry into the CRTC, with broader implications in regard to the relationship between government and corporate interests, as well as Canadian journalism. NOW magazine previously listed his campaign as one of the top stories missed by Toronto’s mainstream media in 1995. He currently divides his time between work and mental health advocacy in Australia, while also staying informed about various subjects of interest, including corruption, regulatory capture, politics and the media.