Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Lewis, for appearing here today.
I think it's ironic that as we discuss this, I'm looking at a poster from Tommy Douglas' Humanity First campaign, and the poster says, “People before profits”. Three years ago when we talked about this bill, it seemed there wasn't the political will to actually do the right thing to make the bill the best it could be.
What concerns me—and I mentioned this Monday in our hearings—is that it seems we're treating this as being the first and foremost country in setting a template to be the champions for this. I'm worried about whether or not our legislation actually poisoned the well in terms of setting a standard that other governments followed subsequently. We haven't seen any action anywhere.
I'm concerned; I would describe what's happening as a genocide. We have treatable measures that can help people, and we wilfully, for one reason or another, one excuse or another, do not act on it.
What is happening over there with regard to the loss of individuals who are professionals—the teachers, doctors, nurses? If we actually get treatment over there—to Rwanda, for example, and other places--will their lives be extended? Will they help stop children from being the heads of households? What is the capacity of human ingenuity and learning that's being lost by our not addressing this? Are we losing the capacity over there day by day to actually improve the conditions?