Bell Let’s Talk Day has become a major campaign for raising awareness on mental health issues, which is a topic that certainly deserves a lot of attention, but this message should come from a company that stands by the values they are preaching. Before changing your profile picture to include a “Bell Let’s Talk” frame, consider the company behind this slogan and some of the ways they have not lived up to the model of supporting the mental health of one of our country’s most vulnerable populations: inmates.
Bell has exclusive rights to provide phone services for inmates in Ontario provincial jails. When in prison, it is only possible to make outgoing collect calls; therefore, inmates’ families are charged an exorbitant rate to support their loved ones, and without this connection to the outside world, inmates can suffer from serious mental health problems. Ottawa criminal lawyer Michael Spratt discovered in 2017 that Bell has worked out an arrangement with the Ontario government to acquire a commission from all collect calls made from provincial jails.
Although Spratt was unable to find out just how much Bell or the government is profiting off of inmates, he revealed that the law firm he is a partner at received bills from Bell of $1 per local call and up to $30 for 20-minute long-distance calls. As if these rates were not expensive enough, these collect calls can only be made to landlines, thereby accruing further expenses for these families.
Bell is making money off of prisoners who are trying to call addiction counsellors, rehabilitation facilities, lawyers, and other support systems who can help them get out of jail, along with their parents, children, and spouses whom they may be struggling to maintain healthy relationships with. This contract Bell has drawn up with the Ontario government completely disregards inmates’ mental health and wellbeing, and they have no right as a company to promote this as one of their values, which they have done every year in January for the past 10 years. By creating a barrier for prisoners to call their support systems, Bell is setting them up for failure. I am sure Bell is well aware of this and has no problem with it, as an inmate’s inability to make arrangements for jobs and places to live after their sentence is up could be keeping inmates in jail longer than necessary, therefore allowing Bell to profit off of them for longer.
Bell’s hypocrisy doesn’t end with exploiting inmates and their families, but also their own employees. More than 600 people came forward after a CBC report regarding Bell’s toxic work environment, which affected both their mental and physical health. Bell would pressure employees to hit sales targets, even if they had to do so in unethical ways. Bell even fired one employee after she dared to ask for a doctor-recommended medical leave.
If you didn’t know how Bell Let’s Talk actually raises funds, it does so by donating five cents for every text and wireless and long-distance call made on Bell Let’s Talk Day by a Bell customer, as well as for every social media post including the hashtag #BellLetsTalk. In this way it differs from a normal charitable campaign that asks customers to donate to a cause; instead, they are making the donations themselves based on the volume of interactions with the campaign. There is no doubt that although this campaign is cleverly disguised as a way to boost its corporate social responsibility image, it is ultimately a way for the company to save money on marketing costs as the whole campaign itself is simply a viral marketing or cause-related marketing campaign. Bell Let’s Talk promotes Bell more than it promotes the struggles faced by people who suffer from potentially life-threatening mental health issues every day.
Bell continuously ignores the mental health of their employees and rips apart the primary connections that prisoners need to maintain stable mental health while going through possibly the most challenging period of their lives. This happens all while celebrating the fact that they raise approximately $7.7 million per year for mental health initiatives, a figure that is $3 million less than the total annual compensation of their former CEO George Cope.
Yes, let’s all talk about mental health and the dangerous stigmas attached to it, but let’s demand accountability for companies that urge us to do so. Don’t be fooled by a company because of its brilliant PR campaigns, or over-the-top donations to charity; instead, look at the company’s ethical standards before being caught up in the hype.
Illustration: Kayt Hine
Andrea Sadowski is working towards her BA in Global Development Studies, with a minor in anthropology and Mennonite studies. When she's not sitting in front of her computer, Andrea enjoys climbing mountains, sleeping outside, cooking delicious plant-based food, talking to animals, and dismantling the patriarchy.
