Bill C-277

National Strategy on Brain Injuries Act

An Act to establish a national strategy on brain injuries

This enactment provides for the development of a national strategy to support and improve brain injury awareness, prevention and treatment as well as the rehabilitation and recovery of persons living with a brain injury.

Brain Injury

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is a big honour for me to table this petition today. The petitioners recognize that there are approximately 165,000 new cases of brain injury annually in Canada, and that health and community service providers require more education regarding the intersection of brain injury, mental health and addiction.

They note that there have been over 21,000 hospitalizations for opioid-related poisonings that have resulted in hypoxic brain injuries between January 2016 and June 2020 in Canada, an estimated 60% of brain injury survivors suffer from anxiety or depression, their suicide risk increases by 400%, and they face a 200% increase in risk of struggling with addictions after sustaining a brain injury.

Therefore, the petitioners are calling on the government to support my bill, Bill C-277, to develop a national strategy to support and improve brain injury awareness, prevention and treatment, as well as the rehabilitation and recovery of persons living with a brain injury.

National Strategy on Brain Injuries Act

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-277, An Act to establish a national strategy on brain injuries.

Mr. Speaker, in Canada, June is Brain Injury Awareness Month and it is a time to increase awareness about the prevalence of brain injury, the obstacles that exist for those with brain injury and the need for more services and support at all stages of recovery.

The 2022 national collaborative Brain Injury Awareness Month campaign is focused on raising awareness of brain injury in Canada. We know that over 1.5 million Canadians live with brain injury and it contributes to homelessness, incarceration, substance use and mental health issues.

That is why I am very pleased to be introducing this bill today, which would establish a national brain injury strategy. It would require the Minister of Health to develop a national strategy to support and improve brain injury awareness, prevention and treatment, as well as the rehabilitation and recovery of persons living with brain injury.

The strategy requires a number of things, like the implementation of preventative measures and identifying the training, education and guidance needs of health care professionals, but it will also identify the challenges resulting from brain injury, such as mental health problems, addiction, housing and homelessness issues, and criminality. The bill would also have reporting requirements so that Parliament can keep tabs on this strategy.

Finally, I would like to thank both Brain Injury Canada and Janelle from my riding of Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, who is a member of the Constable Gerald Breese Centre for Traumatic Life Losses, for their collaboration and input, which made this bill today possible.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)