Thank you.
I don't need you to answer my first question verbally. If we could receive your answer at some other time in writing, I'd be happier. These activities were all identified as short-, medium-, and long-term, and I'm not sure what that means. It probably means something different for each area, but I don't know whether short-term means next week, next month, or next year. Many of the issues that I'm concerned about are identified as medium-term issues. I'd appreciate it if at some stage we could have in writing what the timelines for those initiatives are, rather than taking up my question time to have somebody respond to that.
My second point is that this is really--and I agree with the first speaker--a women's health issue. The infant is the victim of it, but it's a women's health issue. We have groups of special needs adoptive parents who are very active in this area around the country. The May 5 Canadian Medical Association Journal, which included the uniform diagnosis standards, was to look next at the screening tool--at least I think the committee was.
As for those women at risk, I would want to add--because I haven't heard them mentioned--the people who have any responsibility, and that's often not a lot, for urban aboriginal health, not aboriginal health on reserve.
In my province, British Columbia, one of the largest groups of FASD babies are those from the U.K. That's why under theme one you're talking about international partnerships. In the U.K. they still tell moms it's okay to drink; you can drink only a certain amount, which is actually quite outrageous. You can't smoke, but you can drink a certain amount. So I'm very interested in getting into international partnerships, because we're seeing a larger number of U.K. babies in the province of British Columbia who are FASD or along that line.
My second point--if you have time to respond to it--is that we focus a lot on children, infants, toddlers, etc., but when those people are teens and young adults, we're seeing them in conflict with the law, we're seeing them in the prison system. I have an interest in what work is going on to work with those people so that they don't end up in the prison system or in conflict with the law because they didn't have the attention they needed when they were younger.