A third of Canadians who require mental health care are not getting sufficient help, a new Statistics Canada report shows.

Last year, 17 per cent of Canadians aged 15 and older perceived themselves as having had a need for mental health care in the previous 12 months, states the Canadian Community Health Survey: Mental Health, released Wednesday morning.

Of those 4.9 million people, 12 per cent reported their need for care — for example, through counselling or medication — was unmet and 21 per cent reported that they got some help but needed more.

Camille Quenneville, CEO of the Ontario branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association, said the numbers in the report don’t tell the whole story.

“I am a little worried that some of the numbers may be underreported,” she said, citing the CMHA’s belief that one in five Canadians suffers from a mental illness each year.

One explanation for the difference could be that the Statistics Canada survey did not include people living on-reserve and in other Aboriginal settlements, full-time members of the Canadian Forces and those living in institutions, Quenneville said.

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“It won’t give a real picture of the higher incidence we think exists of the people who are struggling with mental health issues,” she said.

Of those with unmet or only partially met needs, 73 per cent reported personal circumstances as a reason, for example, being too busy. Another 19 per cent reported that features of the health system, for example a lack of readily available help — as a reason for their needs not being fully met.

The survey results are based on responses from 25,100 Canadians aged 15 and older.

It also found that 2.8 million people, or 10 per cent of Canadians, reported symptoms consistent with one in six mental health or substance abuse disorders.

Of this group, 4.7 per cent cited symptoms consistent with major depressive disorder, 1.5 per cent reported symptoms consistent with bipolar disorder, 2.6 per cent reported generalized anxiety disorder, 3.2 per cent reported alcohol abuse or dependence, 1.3 per cent reported cannabis abuse or dependence and 0.7 per cent cited problems with other drugs.