Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, my name is Ron Gravel, I am the director of the health statistics division at Statistics Canada, and I am here with my colleague, Valérie Gaston, chief of vital statistics.
I would like to thank the committee for inviting us to appear today in the context of your study of support to families after the loss of a child.
The following presentation will provide information on youth mortality in Canada and will focus on infant deaths.
We'll start by providing some context to explain how the presentation evolved.
Statistics Canada currently holds information on home care, caregiving and care receiving for long-term health conditions. Unfortunately, after careful review, we can confirm that these data holdings do not contain information in response to the committee's request for information on support to parents after the loss of a child. These holdings also do not contain enough information on the profile of the children, in regard to the conditions, to support this request.
However, Statistics Canada does have data on stillbirths and deaths of children in Canada. We will highlight some of the information available on these deaths.
The key messages for the presentation today are these: Deaths of infants less than one year old represent more than half of all youth deaths—that is, of all people 19 years old and under. Neonates less than one day old represent more than half of all infant deaths. The total number of stillbirths—that is, fetal deaths—has increased over the last 25 years.
On slide 3, I'm showcasing a decentralized system of civil registration and vital statistics, just to give you the context. Canada's national vital statistics system is based on co-operation and collaboration among the 13 provincial and territorial vital statistics registries and the federal government, represented by Statistics Canada.
Civil registration of births, deaths, still births and marriages are the responsibility of the provinces and territories. Each provincial and territorial registrar operates under its own provincial or territorial vital statistics act. The collection and dissemination of national vital statistics are the responsibility of Canada's central statistical agency. Statistics Canada is legislated under the federal Statistics Act.