Mr. Chair, I think there is going to be one major decision that the committee is going to have to make with respect to this bill. Happily, it's kind of a nice decision to make. I don't think it's a question of intent, ideology, or difference, but one thing that has become very clear through the course of this testimony is that we have two possibilities in front of us with this bill.
One is to create a bill that deals comprehensively with PTSD, or in other words, to have the bill call for the creation of a federal framework on PTSD comprehensively. Or are we talking about creating a federal framework for workplace PTSD? Both are inherently worthy objectives, and both of them I think are important.
I had not planned on moving an amendment or raising that issue at this particular clause, except now that I quickly read it, I think this may be the first time that the committee will have to determine which path we're going to take, because under the definition of “federal framework”, the bill says that it “means a framework to address the challenges of recognizing the symptoms and providing timely diagnosis and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.”
As you'll see later on, I have two suites of amendments, depending on which way we want to go. I'm content with making this a bill to create a federal framework for workplace PTSD. I'm also content to create a framework that would deal with PTSD comprehensively. I will advocate later on for the latter, for a number of reasons that I'll go into then. I think this definition is the first time that we'll have to make that decision on which path we're going to take, because the way this definition is written, it adopts the comprehensive approach.
I'm going to move an amendment at this time. In fact, I'm going to invite my colleagues to have the debate now, because I think we have to do it here. If we do not intend this bill to be a comprehensive approach to PTSD with regard to all major population groups in Canada, not just those in the workplace, then we should insert the word “workplace” in front of “post-traumatic stress disorder”. I'll make the argument why I think we shouldn't do that, but we'll make this decision.
Obviously, workplace post-traumatic stress disorder is a serious issue in Canada. As you'll see later on in the bill, there are certain specific groups that are mentioned as being the front-line victims of post-traumatic stress disorder. They are listed in the bill as veterans, RCMP officers, health professionals, corrections officers....
Am I missing anybody?