Margaret Trudeau is encouraging Chatham-Kent residents to take mental illness seriously.

Margaret Trudeau spoke at the Capitol Theatre on February 24, 2017
Margaret Trudeau spoke at the Capitol Theatre on February 24, 2017

Trudeau shared her stories on Friday night at the Capitol Theatre and says she believes her purpose is to help others.

“I think that I’m meant to be doing this,” she explains, “to have gone through all of this horror of untreated mental illness and the damage that it does to everyone, so that I do have this story to tell.”

Trudeau says she hopes that more government funding will be put into mental illness.

“Only 7% of our budget for health goes to mental health, we have got to change that, I know someone in government.”

Trudeau, the former wife of the late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, been a mental health advocate for more than 10 years.

Friday night’s event served as a fundraiser for Family Services Kent.