I would first like to say that my area of expertise, and that of Amnesty International, is limited to human rights. We have concerns about the fact that the changes or restrictions requested are not consistent with the spirit of human rights or the treaties and conventions signed by Canada.
With regard to the patent waiver and intellectual property, we must bear in mind that there must be as few restrictions as possible. The process must be democratized as much as possible so that as many people as possible around the world have access to treatments and not just vaccines.
For all sorts of reasons, there is hesitancy, as Ms. Fry rightly pointed out, not only about vaccines, but also about treatments. The longer we delay, the more hesitancy there will be. When we appropriate technologies or vaccines, restrict access to them and delay sharing them with all of humanity, it sends a terrible message. For example, by sending the surplus of AstraZeneca vaccines, which we do not want, to the poorest countries, we are sending the terrible message that these vaccines are not good for us, but they are good for them.
We have to bear that in mind. We must not restrict the production of vaccines to certain countries, no matter how the restrictions come about. We must make the opportunity available to others. We must support all countries that want and are able to produce vaccines.
Canada's role is not limited to purchasing vaccines and sending them to the poorest countries. All the logistics must be established in those countries so they can administer treatments, including vaccines. The situation is complicated in the case of vaccines. Current vaccines require specific handling, especially when it comes to the cold chain. In many regions of the world, it is difficult to implement without the appropriate technology and logistics. Not only must we provide the technology and the remedies, among other things, but we must also raise people's awareness of the importance of these medications and treatments.