Justice committee  I'm a little confused. I'm sorry, but I don't know the section 83 part that you're referring to.

Justice committee  Without a doubt other parts of the body can be fixed up but the head can't be. Although we do not have a position on fighting in hockey—I speak on behalf of our membership, not just on my behalf—it's not difficult for me to imagine that the same group of people, the 84% of our delegates to our general council who are opposed to mixed martial arts and boxing, would also be opposed to fighting in hockey with blows to the head.

Justice committee  Our concern, in terms of sanctioned versus unsanctioned, is that even with boundaries it's still very difficult to know, in the middle of a fight, which next blow to the person's head will be the blow that causes a problem.

Justice committee  No. If it's consensual, we still feel that this is an activity we have to speak out against. It causes huge health outcomes. As physicians, we're obligated to speak out about injury prevention and health promotion.

Justice committee  We're very concerned that a sport would be legal where the intent is to injure someone else's head. That's very difficult—

Justice committee  Those statistics for the long-term effects do not exist yet because those studies have not been completed. There are studies starting, but I don't have the names of them in front of me right now. We do know that if you strike people in the head, whether it be in a bar fight or in a ring, whether it be sanctioned or unsanctioned, no matter how hard you try to protect ahead of time, there will be potential injuries.

Justice committee  Well, we're not talking about those sports, but we do know that head hits in such things as hockey and football are very serious, and people have long-term effects from them. In fact, I understand there's a lawsuit going on in the U.S. from NFL players against the NFL for the effects of concussions during their careers.

Justice committee  That's correct. I don't think that data exists. My point is that the difference is that in those sports, the intent is not to injure yourself in your head—

Justice committee  Absolutely.

Justice committee  We're not in and of ourselves studying it, but I understand that there are some studies going on. I don't have right in front of me the names of those studies, but I was just reading about it. There's one study—

Justice committee  Well, we have referenced a study with respect to boxing, which is blows to the head—

Justice committee  Of mixed martial arts?

Justice committee  Well, the primary objective is to incapacitate the player so they can no longer participate in the sport.

Justice committee  Pardon me?

Justice committee  Yes, but not with blows to the head.