Thank you very much.
I am really honoured to be here today.
Wendy and Philippe are from my riding, and I was delighted to help them in their quest to raise awareness of sudden unexplained death of children.
Just in listening to the testimony this morning, I realized that 25 years ago, my husband and I lost our first child, so I know your pain and grief don't have a time limit.
I heard a lot about holistic approaches to loss—it's the province, it's local organizations, community, family, the federal government.
What can we be doing? We're talking about two different things in terms of what benefits or supports are available and the delivery of those. When you're suffering a loss, the last thing you want to do is jump through hoops. We heard that loud and clear. What could we be doing as members of Parliament?
We often get contacted by organizations or citizens, saying that they're having trouble navigating the system, that they need this or that, a passport, for example. What could we be doing to help in real time? These are small tweaks we can make so that we know that your organizations exist, and when other families come to us and say they're suffering, we can be that one-stop shop, that guichet unique, for families, and say, “Listen, we know you're suffering. Let us help you. We know there's an organization that can help there.”
We can help you make sure that the CRA is aware of the death of your child, and we can make sure those benefits...people are notified. We can make sure that our provincial counterparts are aware.
What could we be doing to help you and help families? There are things we can be doing in real time that can help. I think just having that holistic approach, that one-stop shop could help, so that you don't have to keep telling the story over and over.
What would you recommend to us? That is an open question.