Dennis Lester Anderson was a provincial-level politician from Alberta, Canada. At seventeen, Anderson attended Rochdale College in Toronto and started the Rochdale Drug Crisis Centre. He has continued to advocate for mental health ever since. After Rochdale, he spent several years in media, hosting weekly radio shows about current political affairs.
After leaving politics, Anderson worked in Russia aiding cities in developing democratic systems, in Peru establishing fairness and protection of individual rights, twice in Ukraine observing elections, and in India advising on mental health. Since 2000, he has served as Honorary Consul, and now Consul General for Thailand, responsible for Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. A Commander of the White Elephant, he has also received the companion Medal. Anderson has served as president of the Canadian Mental Health Association in Alberta and on its national executive. He was a director of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, and has worked with other mental health advocacy organizations including the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped panel supporting the provision of financial and health benefits to eligible Albertans with a disability. As Commissioner of the Edmonton Police Commission from 2006 to 2012 and chair of all Alberta Police Commissions, he initiated mental health training for police. As founding chair of the Alberta Alliance for Mental Illness and Mental Health, Anderson united sixteen organizations in the governance of mental health. He has been an advisor to organizations including the psychiatric department of the University of Alberta, he was founding chair of the Lieutenant Governor's Circle on Mental Health and Addictions, and created the Chimo Project providing animal-assisted therapy for people with mental illness. He died on March 20, 2019 of complications from sleep apnea.
Anderson worked with governments, hospitals, and other agencies in creating a program that uses animals to foster better mental health. He joined the board of the Royal Institute for Mental Health Research in Ottawa. Anderson received an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of Alberta in 2017. When he accepted his degree, Anderson said this: "When I left home, I also had to find a reason for life. It may seem foolish, but I decided that to change this world for the better was to be my reason for living. For me, and I believe for you, we must truly feel worthwhile in this very fast moving and complex world; I suggest we must be working to improve our world, not just working, at our occupation."
