Evidence of meeting #42 for Health in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was doses.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:35 a.m.
Bloc
Denis Trudel Bloc Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My questions are for either representative of the Canadian Association of Optometrists, Mr. Couillard or Mr. Nelson.
First of all, can you tell me what optometry research is being conducted in Canada, in general?
11:35 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Association of Optometrists
Thank you for your question, Mr. Trudel.
I would like to start by saying that there is very little research done in optometry, in Canada. Between 0.5% and 1% of the overall research budgets in Canada are devoted to vision care.
When you look at the work that is being done in the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, or CIHR, there is no entity within these institutes dedicated to vision care. By comparison, the National Institutes of Health in the United States includes an institute specifically dedicated to vision care, but there is nothing like that in Canada.
Much of the research is done by and funded by the provinces. The Quebec government, among others, devotes a lot of funds to it. Private Quebec foundations also do research.
There is some basic research and research into advanced therapies for certain health problems that can lead to vision loss. Clinical trials are also being conducted on new drugs that may help slow the progression of vision loss.
11:35 a.m.
Bloc
Denis Trudel Bloc Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
I can't remember if it was you or Mr. Nelson who spoke earlier about the need for increased funding.
If you had this additional funding, in what areas of expertise would you want to see research done at the moment?
11:35 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Association of Optometrists
It would really be necessary to determine what the priorities are in Canada. The research would probably be on diseases leading to blindness. As I mentioned, there are new drugs that slow down the onset of blindness. It could also be on vision rehabilitation. These are methods that allow people to regain some of their vision after experiencing health problems.
There also needs to be basic research. We have good institutes in Canada, including the Montreal Clinical Research Institute, where Dr. Cayouette is doing excellent research.
We have two universities that teach optometry: the University of Waterloo and the University of Montreal. Both of these centres do their own research as well. So it's likely that the research would be concentrated in those institutions.
11:35 a.m.
Bloc
Denis Trudel Bloc Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
The issue of screen time during the pandemic was addressed earlier, either by you or by Mr. Nelson.
I have quite young children, who are 12 and 17, and I've seen this problem amplified during the pandemic. We know it's one of the factors that creates attention deficit, for example.
Can you tell us how screen time can lead to eye health problems?
11:35 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Association of Optometrists
I'll let our clinical expert, Dr. Nelson, reply.
11:35 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Association of Optometrists
Dr. Nelson, I'll let you answer this one on the impact of screens, please.
11:35 a.m.
President, Canadian Association of Optometrists
Thank you very much.
The pandemic has shown that all of us—kids, adults and everyone—are using our screens much, much more and has highlighted the importance of vision to us. We're having more people coming in with symptoms related to screen use. That's highlighted to us that our vision is important, and Canadians are feeling that this is a valuable area for the federal government to have some leadership on.
If we talk specifically about kids—I talked about myopia—we know there are some studies that are linking increased screen use and screen time with increased myopia or nearsightedness, which can result in vision problems down the road and an increased risk of eye disease and pathology later on.
What this pandemic has been reminding Canadians is not to take their vision for granted. Our vision is important, and we need the federal government to take leadership on this.
11:40 a.m.
Bloc
Denis Trudel Bloc Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Earlier, you also talked about the need for funding to support eye health education programs.
Firstly, have there ever been any such programs?
Next, I'd like you to tell us about the ones the Canadian Association of Optometrists would itself like to set up.
11:40 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Association of Optometrists
Thank you.
As far as I know, there has never been any such campaign. Anything to do with vision care has really been neglected in the past, if you compare it to dental care, or mental health care, now. For a very long time, mental health was a taboo subject, but now there are a lot of campaigns about it.
We envisage a campaign a bit like the one done in the past to stop smoking. We really need to educate the public and make them aware that some things are good for the eyes and others are not. You need to make frequent appointments with eye specialists to make sure that you are following up on your visual health and to be able to detect problems early on so that they don't become much more serious problems that can cause blindness.
There hasn't been a campaign like this in the past, and that's why we and many of our partners nationwide are trying to develop one.
11:40 a.m.
Liberal
11:40 a.m.
Bloc
Denis Trudel Bloc Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
All right. I'm so sorry.
Thank you very much for your answers, Mr. Couillard.
11:40 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Association of Optometrists
Thank you,
June 7th, 2021 / 11:40 a.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I will be sharing my time with my honourable colleague from Windsor, Mr. Masse.
Ms. Travis, how many workers are currently affected by job action in the hotel industry in British Columbia?
11:40 a.m.
Research Director, Local 40, UNITE HERE Canada
I'd say thousands of workers are impacted by.... Are you talking about in particular the Pacific Gateway Hotel?
11:40 a.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
No, I mean totally.
I understand that a lockout notice was served by the hotel association. How many workers does that affect?
11:40 a.m.
Research Director, Local 40, UNITE HERE Canada
About 2,000, and that includes hotels that are being bargained by the same sort of entity.
11:40 a.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
To my understanding—if I can summarize this—the hotels essentially are using the pandemic to lay off workers, let their recall rates expire, and then when the recall rates have expired, they're terminating hundreds of workers, 70% of whom are women and many of whom are people of colour.
Is that correct?
11:40 a.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
This government says that it is a feminist government. It claims it wants a feminist recovery.
To Ms. Cardona and Ms. Dhillon, what is the impact on the morale of your sisters when you see the federal government continue to use a hotel that has terminated, laid off and locked out so many women?
