Madam Chair, members of the committee, good day and thank you for this opportunity to speak to this question.
I want to start by briefly describing to you the organizations that I represent. I am the President of Gai Écoute, an organization that provides support to homosexuals. Each year we field over 25,000 calls and over one million people visit our websites. I am also the President of Fondation Émergence, a foundation dedicated to educating, fighting and increasing awareness of prejudice. We also spearhead awareness campaigns in conjunction with International Day Against Homophobia.
I believe you are being handed copies of this year's promotional material which proclaims that homosexuality is not a disease.
We understand the need to adopt regulations governing the safety of donated organs. I believe the gay community is in favour of this initiative as well. We learned of this situation in January through the francophone press which had picked up a story originally carried by the English press in December. All of this to say that in my estimation, the gay community was not properly informed about what was happening.
I hope to show through my testimony that Health Canada's decision violates the spirit of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which prohibits discrimination, and that Health Canada has the moral obligation to explain its decisions in a way everyone understands. We need to determine whether or not this decision is discriminatory. Let me remind you that under the Charter, decisions of this nature must be well-founded, which is not the case here. Later on, I would like to propose a regulatory scheme.
As for the scientific basis for this decision, I do not have the necessary expertise to take a firm stand one way or another. These scientific regulations go beyond my capabilities. However, I can say that there have been some scientific advances in recent years in the are of virus identification. I am not certain that the regulations properly reflect the progress that has been made in the past few years.
We also have some questions about the five-year exclusion period set out in Annex E. Some groups are excluded for five years, and others, for one year. The regulations refer to a window during which no identification could be given. As I see it, the logical approach would be to exclude people on the basis of the window, not for a period of five years, which seems arbitrary to me. For other groups, the period fixed is one year. We were not given any explanations as to the reason for this decision. We understand the one-year period for certain groups owing to latency.
We also feel that there are inconsistencies in the regulations since these state that no group is excluded, whereas the Annex lists certain excluded groups and leaves it to the health care professionals to decide whether or not to make exceptions.
Getting back to the issue of discrimination, in my view, a government, health care agency or department that makes a discriminatory decision has the moral obligation to justify that decision.
The right to information is a very important right for gay communities. Personally, I feel that our communities are being treated with contempt in this case. Decisions were made without the necessary information being disseminated. We are responsible individuals. Before coming here, I actually underwent some testing so that I could speak knowledgeably about this issue. Even though I have been sexually active for many years, my test results are still negative. In my opinion, Health Canada has a very important obligation to justify its decisions. I personally think that our communities are being treated with contempt in that they were not fully informed about the regulations that were being brought in.
I head up an organization that defends human rights as well as the Fondation Émergence. We conduct information campaigns and we would be willing to work with Health Canada in our communities to help people understand the rationale behind these regulations and what the various risk levels are. You can rest assured that where there are certain risk levels, gay communities are sufficiently responsible to support policies, provided they are properly informed.
Since we are on the subject of risk levels, I feel it is important to emphasize that people will die because they will not have received an organ transplant. Organs for donation are in short supply. People are dying while they wait for a transplant, and yet homosexuals are being excluded as potential donors. The regulations subsequently state that we are not excluded. So then, how should I answer the question on my Quebec health card as to whether I would like to be an organ donor? Should I sign the organ donor card or not? Health Canada officials haven't given me any kind of answer. I have tested negative, but for now, I have withdrawn my consent because I am at an impasse. It comes back to the importance of keeping people informed.
It seems to me that we could do things differently. I propose that a confidential national organ donor registry be established. Homosexuals account for 10% of the population, but only 2% show up in the census. Therefore, 8%, or the majority of the homosexual population, are not officially accounted for in the census. I don't feel this approach is truly adequate.
If I wanted to be a donor, I would have to answer the following question: have you had any high risk sexual relations? The conditions would be explained to me and I would voluntarily register as a donor. The registry could be confidential, but national in scale. When a person dies, a check could be run to see if that person's name is listed in the national organ donor registry. Right now, it is not clear how we should proceed. Do we or do we not sign a card? Families are asked questions in the emergency room. Parents do not know what kind of sexual relations their children have had—at least I don't think they do.
I want to emphasize that people do discriminate against homosexuals and do harbour some prejudices. Our campaigns proclaiming that “Homosexuality is NOT a disease!” have taught us that prejudices still abound. By enacting regulations like these, the Canadian government, and in this case Health Canada, is promoting this type of prejudice against homosexuals. To all intents and purposes, we have been categorized as a danger to society.
We are faced with this situation at a time when we are making a tremendous effort to achieve equality and combat prejudice. It is critically important for Health Canada to implement proper information programs to increase public awareness. This policy only serves to heighten people's prejudice against homosexuals. It does not promote responsible sexual relations, or encourage people to be organ donors at a time when organs are in short supply.
Thank you very much.