I think there were nine recommendations that came out in 2019 from the Standing Committee on Health. We would encourage them to have a public awareness campaign to sensitize the public to the fact that it's happening and to make them realize that yes, when they are in front of a health care professional, when it's an emergency and they're at the ER and things are not going well, that the nurse, that the health care professional, is a person. Yes, these are stressful times, but by sensitizing Canadians, maybe we will diminish the amount of abuse—verbal and physical—that nurses and other health care professionals are facing.
We are also looking at a pan-Canadian framework on preventing violence in health care settings, similar to the PTSD framework that was enshrined in federal legislation. We're recommending targeted funding to upgrade infrastructure in health care facilities, which would include devices linked to security for nurses and personal alarms.
We know that patients come in with.... We've had in Moncton, at a hospital here, a patient who had a machete in his pack. If this person has psychological problems, it might get dangerous.
We commend the government for Bill C-3, but we realize that we must better inform prosecutors and public safety personnel of this updated Criminal Code to strengthen protection for health care workers and ensure that these changes are enforced. I think some of them are not cognizant of it, so it's not being enforced.