Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I'd also like to thank the committee, particularly Mr. Fisher, for facilitating my appearance here.
As was mentioned, my daughter Rowan passed away in May 2013 from a blow she suffered playing high school rugby. She took a hit in a game on May 8, which was a Wednesday. She lost consciousness on the field and was transported to the children's hospital here in Ottawa. In spite of all the interventions they could do—this being the world-class facility that it is, we know that she got the very best care—she succumbed to her injuries on Sunday the 12th.
Since then, we've been involved very heavily, particularly in learning about concussion. I could probably have written on a Post-it Note what I knew about concussions before what happened to Rowan. I'm considerably more knowledgeable now.
About two years after her death, in May 2015, a coroner's inquest was held here in Ottawa to look into all the information around what happened to her before the fatal concussive event. That inquest was called for by Dr. Charles Tator. I believe Charles has addressed you already. At the time, I didn't know Dr. Tator at all. I've learned very much since then how valuable it is that he became involved in this. He's an incredible man.
From that inquest, 49 recommendations were made by the jury—very insightful recommendations, I must say. The unfortunate thing with inquests is that things that come out of them aren't necessarily ever acted upon. I didn't know that beforehand. I naively thought, well, here we have 49 recommendations, so things are going to get done. That's not necessarily the case.
I approached my local MPP at the time and asked what we could do to get these acted upon.
A private member's bill was put through Queen's Park, co-sponsored by a member from each of the three main parties. It was unanimously passed, and we had the first concussion legislation in Canada pass through at Queen's Park. But that first piece of legislation was speaking only to the forming of a committee, which was to advise the Ontario government on how best to implement those 49 recommendations.
I served on the subsequent committee with very learned people. I felt quite humbled being around the table with these folks, many of whom have spoken here—Eric Lindros, Charles Tator, Paul Hunter, to name a few.
After one year, that committee came out with the report on the creation of Rowan's Law. It is available online. In it, there are 21 action items for the Government of Ontario. The first was creating Rowan's Law, which was passed into law last year in March. Along with the passage of the law, there was the creation of Rowan's Law Day, which will happen every year on the last Wednesday of September in Ontario.
Last September 26 was the first Rowan's Law Day in Ontario. We had incredible participation in that day from the education field, from the health care field and from the sports community.
I was heartened to hear, in the previous presentation, talk of a week. I think that would be incredible. If that moves forward, I think consideration should be given to making that week centred around Rowan's Law Day, which is in Ontario. The day that was picked for Rowan's Law Day was specifically because it's a day that no other kind of “Day of...” falls on.
Also, it is early enough in the school year that schools, sports teams, etc. have an opportunity to discuss Rowan's story, concussions, protocols and so on, so that kids get a start on the school year and on their sports with this base of education and knowledge, age-appropriately of course. It can't be the same across the board. You can't teach a grade 3 student at the same level you can teach a grade 9 student today. It has to be an appropriate base of knowledge.
What we have now is a working group that has been established in Ontario. I again have had the honour of being asked to serve on that working group, which is now working on helping the government implement the rest of the action items that have not yet been fully implemented in Ontario.
I was heartened to hear that last week a call for commentary went out from the Government of Ontario regarding regulations, code of conduct, etc., which will address some of the action items. Commentary is open on those aspects of the bill until April 14.
Other things I've learned over the last six years are things I'm sure you have already heard, but I will reinforce them.
There are gaps. There are voids in the treatment system, the management system, in Canada for people who suffer from concussions and post-concussion syndrome. Like a vacuum, those gaps and voids eventually get filled, but unfortunately they're not necessarily filled with the right things. I've heard it referred to as somewhat of a cottage industry that has popped up with respect to concussions, people hanging shingles out, claiming their expertise in the area of concussions. When people can't get access to the primary, secondary or tertiary care they need, they will go to whatever is available, and that's not necessarily a good thing.
There's a definite need for front-line health care providers, particularly clinicians and family physicians, to update their education in the concussion area. You've no doubt heard that 70% to 80% of concussions will generally resolve within—depending on who you talk to—four to eight weeks.
Those are the people who need to be seen by their primary care physician, and those primary care people need to be able to triage them. They need to have the education to be able to tell whether they can look after them or whether they need to be referred further on. When they get to the point of being referred, however, there is a huge gap out there in proper facilities they can go to, multidisciplinary clinics where they can be addressed.
Another phrase I've learned over the last six years is that when you've seen one concussion, that is what you've seen—one concussion. It's a myriad of problems and combinations. It's a constellation of issues. You don't necessarily have just one or two; you may have six or seven. You may have only one or two, but all of them, at some point, need to be addressed.
That being said, we do have excellent examples of such facilities already in Canada, such as Concussion North, in Barrie, with Dr. Shannon Bauman. It's an excellent facility. I believe Dr. Bauman has been here. There's Dr. Michael Ellis in Winnipeg, at the Pan Am Clinic. There are people out in Calgary. There are clinics in Toronto and Montreal, at McGill and Laval.
Examples do exist, but they need to be replicated. People need to be able to have access to them when they need that beyond their primary physician care. Here in Ottawa we have a CHEO clinic run by Dr. Goulet. He desperately needs to expand his capacity there. He needs support in funding for that. He's doing the best he can for the kids, but it's not enough. He doesn't have.... That's something that also needs to be addressed, the capacity issue across Canada.
I think I'll leave my comments at that for now. I welcome any questions you have regarding what was said.
