Good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to provide information on the government's support for Canadian thalidomide survivors. Most of my remarks will be in English.
I can also respond in French.
I would be happy to take questions in either language.
In my current position at Health Canada, I am responsible for the oversight of a number of funding programs, including the thalidomide survivors contribution program.
I'd like to provide you with a brief history leading up to the establishment of the program, as well as some information about the program's design and implementation. Some of this you may have already received from a letter from the Honourable Jane Philpott, Minister of Health.
I'll start with the history. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, thalidomide was used as a sedative. It was also found to be effective in treating symptoms associated with morning sickness. Thalidomide became available in sample tablet form on July 17, 1959, and was licensed for prescription use by the Department of National Health and Welfare, now Health Canada, on April 1, 1961. It remained legally available until March 2, 1962, when it was removed from the market. Thus, the earliest full-term births to be affected by thalidomide would have been after April 1960.
In 1991, the Government of Canada created the $8.5 million extraordinary assistance plan for people born with disabilities caused by thalidomide. The funds were distributed in the early 1990s, then the program ended.
To date, 97 known Canadian survivors have received compensation through the plan. Many years later, on December 1, 2014, the House of Commons unanimously passed a motion to provide support for Canadian survivors. In spring 2015, the government announced a set of federal support measures for survivors. These measures are provided by the Thalidomide Survivors Contribution Program.
The purpose of the program is to contribute to meeting the needs of thalidomide survivors for the remainder of their lives so that they can age with dignity. The program also provided an opportunity and a process to assess individuals who had not already been identified in 1991 to determine if they were Canadian thalidomide survivors.
Each year a certain number of children are born with spontaneous or otherwise unaccountable malformations. In the absence of any definitive scientific test, it is difficult to distinguish between conditions caused by thalidomide and those caused by other factors.
It was, therefore, important to ensure the program was founded on objective and verifiable criteria. Thus it was decided and subsequently announced on May 22, 2015, that the program eligibility criteria would be determined based on the 1991 criteria, as follows: that there be verifiable information of the receipt of a settlement from a drug company; documentary proof, for example medical or pharmacy records, of the maternal use of thalidomide—brand names known to be Kevadon and Talimol—in Canada during the first trimester of pregnancy; and listing on an existing government registry of thalidomide victims.
This approach provided an objective process to assess unconfirmed individuals to determine if they were thalidomide survivors. It also provided consistency between the 1991 extraordinary assistance plan criteria and the criteria used to assess new applicants.
I'd like to note that the absence of time parameters in the eligibility criteria allows for the possibility that a person might submit proof from outside the time period of thalidomide distribution in Canada. The criteria also did not preclude the person whose mother ingested thalidomide after its withdrawal from the market.
Next, a few words about program implementation.
Following a competitive process, Health Canada selected Crawford & Company (Canada) Inc., an experienced and well-established provider of claims services, to act as the independent third party administrator of the thalidomide survivors contribution program. In addition to administering the ongoing support payments and the extraordinary medical assistance fund, Crawford is responsible for assessing the eligibility of all new claimants.
The administrator's discretion in implementing the program was intentionally limited. Crawford was to strictly adhere to the program parameters, including the eligibility criteria.
Crawford has confirmed 25 new survivors, in addition to the 97 survivors who had been identified in the early 1990s. This brings the total number of confirmed living survivors to 122. Of the 25 new individuals confirmed, 16 submitted documentary proof of maternal ingestion. That is the second of the three criteria that I just listed.
Four individuals have filed requests for judicial review of the administrator's decision. Last week, on May 2, a decision was rendered in the first of these cases. The decision reflected that the court does not have jurisdiction to review the crown's prerogative power nor to reformulate or add eligibility criteria, and it found that the administrator's decision was procedurally fair.
In closing, thank you for your time today. As Michael said, I think we all have something to learn from today's exchange in going forward. I hope the information has been helpful to you.
I'm happy to answer your questions.