Thanks, Mr. Chair, and I apologize for disappearing. We had a technical emergency at this end and I wasn't able to hear the first two witnesses.
I want to thank you, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee for inviting the Canadian Nurses Association to appear today. My name is Mike Villeneuve, and I'm the CEO at the Canadian Nurses Association. I'm delighted to have my colleague, Aden Hamza, who is our policy lead, here with me.
In December 2020, Canada reached a much-anticipated milestone, as you will know, as the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine arrived and immunization programs began across the country. This gave nurses and people living in Canada the hope that the unprecedented global crisis may be brought under control. Never in history has the world of science come together at the same time to solve a common threat to humanity and, globally, scientists have deployed new techniques, shared their findings openly, and worked around the clock with governments and regulators while preserving safety.
Two weeks from yesterday, we will mark the one-year anniversary since the WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Day after day since then, health care workers and vulnerable populations have been suffering the most due to the pandemic. As a key step in eliminating this crippling virus from our society, the Canadian Nurses Association is strongly recommending that everyone living in Canada take the vaccine as it becomes available to them. In addition, clear guidelines and a strong nursing and health care workforce will be critical to successfully deploying a mass COVID-19 immunization program.
Nurses will be central to the delivery of the COVID-19 vaccines across Canada. In fact, it was a nurse in the U.K. who gave the world's first COVID-19 vaccine to a patient. As nurses, we historically have been at the forefront of immunization programs. A vast amount of vaccine delivery into the arms of human beings was carried out by nurses globally, and we have always been strong supporters of science. This was demonstrated in Canada as we saw many nurses be the first to roll up their sleeves to be vaccinated in December.
As the largest group of health care professionals in Canada, nurses are playing a critical role not only in administering vaccines but in educating the public and encouraging vaccine confidence. In carrying out their roles, nurses are ethically bound to give evidence-based, accurate, timely and non-judgmental information to patients. CNA has been committed throughout this process and is playing a key role in promoting vaccine acceptance and supporting nurses through clear, consistent messaging and evidence-informed resources.
I will conclude, Mr. Chair, by saying that CNA continues to be extremely concerned with the critical problems we've witnessed during the pandemic. The long-term care sector continues to suffer the most, and even with lessons learned from the first wave of the pandemic, the second wave has rehashed vulnerabilities in these homes and settings, leading to new outbreaks and many deaths of older adults.
We are also extremely concerned with the mental health and burnout of nurses and all health care workers in Canada. The worsening mental health of nurses could lead to long-term effects for those nurses as individuals but also for the health care system, including amplifying nursing shortages, which seems to be a concern in some parts of Canada. Last year, we asked nurses and found that their mental health had deteriorated significantly throughout the year with over half stating that their mental health was only fair or worse than fair.
Urgent action from all of us, certainly from governments, is needed to address these challenges. Federal, provincial and territorial governments need to remain vigilant and continue to hear the expert voices of nurses and other health care professionals.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and Aden and I will do our best to answer any questions.