Thank you, Mr. Chair.
This is perhaps somewhat unexpected. That being said, I think it's important that this committee understand the nature of the multitude of illnesses that exist with respect to COVID-19. Today we've heard some witnesses and experts with respect to long COVID and the devastating impacts that creates for Canadians.
We know from some of the papers that Dr. O'Brien has sent out that using multidisciplinary committees to begin to understand long COVID and the vast array of symptoms that can come along with it are very important. I would certainly suggest that another illness coming along with COVID is the desperation, depression and anxiety that exists with the inability to be reunited with loved ones, whether it be related to a funeral, as my colleague mentioned, or to the inability visit those who are near and dear to us. We realize there are a multitude of Canadian out there who are, of course, choosing for their own bodily autonomy to not be immunize and are unable to access air, rail and sea.
Although, we do know from recent comments in the House that there are folks who are not immunized who are able to access air, rail, and sea, which creates this distinct disadvantage for some within Canada. That, of course, is not the style of society that we are attempting to create here.
The other point that's very important for people to begin to understand is that for folks out there who have significantly waning immunity after perhaps six months after their third dose, we know the likelihood of them being protected against infection is small. In fact, those out there who are not immunized, but who had a rapid antigen test or even a PCR test before travel would indeed be safer to travel than with someone such as myself, who has a multitude of COVID shots and is not required to have any type of testing before I access any type of public transportation.
This inequity, I believe, is worth addressing. What better place to address it, sadly, than here in the Standing Committee on Health? This is an important issue that has been brought up in the House, but we've certainly not been able to sufficiently and adequately address it amongst members in a cohesive fashion to really point out the inequities of Canadians who are unable to access public transportation. In country the size of ours, the expectation that they should drive around this country is really rather unfair.
The other thing that's important to consider, Mr. Chair, is that these individuals would also be unable to even leave this country, if they have such a desire. That creates a significant issue for them if they were not immunized. They couldn't access the United States and they couldn't access transportation. I suppose if they bought their own boat they could go somewhere else. This creates an inability not just to travel inside their own country, but to actually leave a country where they may disagree with many of its policies, especially this particular one on public health. It effectively traps them inside their own country, which is really something we've never seen or heard of before for folks who are not incarcerated.
The other thing to point out would be to say that this would probably affect about 15% of Canadians, given that 80% of folks would have had two doses of vaccine. I would suggest to the committee members that 15% of Canadians is not an insignificant number of people who have chosen not to be fully immunized, by the current definition.
That being said, I think this is a motion that some may see as inopportune. However, we do continue to study COVID-19 every other meeting in this committee.
Mr. Chair, I thank you for your time and for you indulgence.