Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, honourable members of Parliament. Thank you for the invitation to appear before you today.
On behalf of the Canadian Public Health Association, I want to begin by expressing our gratitude and support for the public health officials and health workers across our country involved in the response to COVID-19. In communities across our country, they are doing everything in their power in this unprecedented time to help Canadians stay safe and to give them the hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
I'm pleased to announce that later this week, CPHA will be releasing its “Review of Canada's Initial Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic”. This report will provide a non-governmental perspective and overview of the public health measures taken to date. It is not meant to provide a detailed analysis of all actions taken, however. I will be pleased to provide the clerk of the committee with access to the review as soon as it is available so that it can be shared with members of this committee.
The review will contain a number of recommendations on topics of interest to this committee and relevant to addressing the second wave of the pandemic. These include data collection, testing, contact tracing and the need for a national approach to outbreak management. Whereas our data collection ended in mid-September, the review does not address the issues of vaccination that are of interest to this committee today. I will address some of these challenges now.
Clearly, the COVID-19 pandemic is Canada's largest public health crisis in over a century. We are seeing weaknesses in our systems as we attempt to secure timely delivery and dissemination of vaccines. Canada needs to develop the flexible, efficient national research and production systems needed to reduce our reliance on international vaccine manufacturers and to meet the needs of Canadians while positioning ourselves as a good international economic partner. To this end, CPHA recommends strengthening basic and applied research capabilities to support infectious disease research along with vaccine development and production requirements. We also need to rebuild our domestic supply chains and manufacturing capacities for vaccine production. Finally, the federal government, in collaboration with provincial and territorial governments and other stakeholders, needs to develop, test and implement national standards and strategies for the distribution of vaccines as part of our emergency response plans.
This pandemic has also highlighted the limits of our health care and public health systems. Within government, the delivery of health services, as you well know, is the responsibility of the provinces and territories, with the federal partner having responsibilities for leadership, collaboration and international relations, among others. The challenge is that the federal responsibilities for public health are not well defined through a policy, legislative or regulatory framework. This situation must change if our country is to respond efficiently and effectively to future public health challenges. CPHA recommends the development of a more unified structure that provides a national approach to public health while respecting provincial and territorial responsibilities. This goal could be achieved through the development of federal legislation for public health, a Canada public health act, with clear roles and responsibilities defined for all governments and stakeholders. Such legislation would require a national funding accord that incorporates performance measures for the delivery of public health services according to national standards.
The pandemic has demonstrated the strengths, resilience and weaknesses that exist within governments' collective abilities to meet the vaccination requirements of this country. Lessons can and must be learned from the past in order to end the current pandemic and provide the tools and capabilities to respond better to future emergencies. The current setback in vaccine deliveries is not unexpected. We are dealing with a novel virus, new vaccines, new technologies and new production processes. The manufacturers need time to expand their production facilities to meet the worldwide demand for vaccines. It must be viewed and conveyed to the public as an example of a short-term delay for long-term benefits.
When I spoke to this committee last April, I noted that how we respond as individuals may be the single most important factor in how well we fare as a country. As much as the hope that is provided by vaccines is the incentive to keep going, we have months of public health orders that we will have to continue to live through before this is over.
For better or for worse, this is playing out as we expected.
This is a deadly virus that preys upon the most vulnerable in our communities. Now is the time for Canadians to continue to make personal sacrifices for the common good, and elected officials at all levels must set that example. This is an unprecedented situation. As such, our response is imperfect.
I do not believe that Canadians expect perfection, but they do want to know that their elected leaders are working together with public health officials to solve the problems that arise.
Thank you.