Evidence of meeting #131 for Status of Women in the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was risk.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
Could we give them to the end of the week? I mean, they just appeared Monday, and I think it's a little bit unfair. If we could give them until the end of the week, it's still a short timeline for these very busy people to put something together for us.
The other thing is that on Emmanuella's point, we started this meeting at 11:05 and we finished it at 11:55. I had wanted to have two hours with these witnesses, and it was cut back to one hour, unfortunately. I really think we've cut them short. If anything, I would prefer to allow at least one more round of questions for them and extend the meeting by five minutes, because we've had less than an hour with these witnesses.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Shelby Kramp-Neuman
From a logistical standpoint, if we go further, we'll be going far past an hour. We have a full second round.
Trust me: It was my intention to have a full second round for all parties. I recognize that this is the first time they've been here, but we're going to move into the second hour. As the comment from the gallery said, we've already spoken about this for five or six minutes, so we're already cutting into our second hour.
I understand that this is....
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
Chair, we have only one witness in the next hour, and there are five minutes of testimony from them, so—
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Shelby Kramp-Neuman
We have two, plus we have housekeeping that we need to get through.
At this point, if there are no further questions, I'd like to suspend for about five minutes while we transition into our second panel.
I do see—
Professor, As an Individual
May I please just make a request about the deadline?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Shelby Kramp-Neuman
You have until Friday of this week. Thank you. Thank you, MP Damoff, for suggesting Friday.
Professor, As an Individual
May I suggest something?
What we're looking for, I'm guessing, are things that are not already available to the task force in the public space, like published papers and so on. The indigenous way of sharing knowledge is that it does need to be cleared. There is a lot of data that I think would help the task force. It is owned by the communities and it must be respected. I would need to check with the First Nations Health Authority to see what would be able to be released. That is vital data that has been ignored for decades. I cannot submit it just because I was involved in the research.
First nations individuals, based on OCAP principles, deserve at least to have their voices represented in terms of the First Nations Health Authority governance okaying it. I don't know if they're going to be able to do it by Friday. I really hope their voices aren't silenced by a deadline that was just put out without concepts being interpreted from the indigenous perspective.
Liberal
Sonia Sidhu Liberal Brampton South, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I just want to say that this is why we invite the medical experts. We should extend the deadline so their voices can be in there because we want good data too.
The second thing, as my colleague Pam said, is this: Is there no way we can extend a little bit so we can maybe ask some questions?
Conservative
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
Chair, I'd like to move a motion, then.
I'd like to invite these witnesses back for another hour. We've shortchanged them. These are the only experts we've heard throughout this study who have reflected Black and indigenous perspectives. I hate to do that to them, so I'd like to invite them to come back.
We didn't have very much time to even ask the folks from the Ontario Health authority questions, so I'd also like to move that we invite these witnesses back for one hour on this study as soon as possible.
(Motion agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Shelby Kramp-Neuman
Looking at the schedule, we can make it happen on December 2.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Shelby Kramp-Neuman
Thank you.
At this point, we'll try again to suspend for five minutes while we transition to our second panel.
Thank you very much, again, to the witnesses. I apologize for cutting you short today, but logistically, it's just where we are.
We'll suspend.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Shelby Kramp-Neuman
I'd like to call the meeting back to order.
The committee will resume its meeting on the study of breast cancer screening for women aged 40.
I have a few additional comments before we begin.
For our new witnesses, please wait until I recognize you by name. For those participating by video conference, please click on the microphone icon to activate your mic, and please mute it when you're not speaking.
You may speak in the official language of your choice. Interpretation services are available. You have the choice of floor, English or French by using the interpretation function at the bottom of your screen. If interpretation is lost for any reason, please let me know immediately.
At this point, I would like to welcome our second panel of witnesses.
From the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care, both joining by video conference, we have Dr. Guylène Thériault, physician, and Dr. Donna Reynolds, physician.
At this point, I would like to open the floor. Whoever would like to speak has the floor, or would you like to split your time?
Dr. Guylène Thériault Physician, Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care
Thank you, Madam Chair and all members of Parliament present today, for your invitation to engage with the Canadian task force regarding the 2024 draft recommendations on breast cancer screening for women, specifically today for women in their forties. We look forward to any input from your committee as we work to finalize the guideline.
I am Dr. Guylène Thériault. I have worked for the past 28 years as a family physician in Quebec's urban, rural and remote areas while teaching many generations of upcoming physicians. I am the chair of the task force, as well as the chair of the breast cancer screening update working group.
Besides my degree in medicine, I have a diploma in evidence-based health care from Oxford University.
I am accompanied today by Dr. Donna Reynolds, a family physician colleague. Dr. Reynolds holds a specialty degree in public health and a master's of science in epidemiology and is also involved in teaching as well as in research. She is the interim vice-chair of the task force.
We are both volunteers on the task force. For the past eight years, we have been contributing our time to the mandate of developing preventive health care guidelines for primary care practitioners across Canada. I am aware that there have been previous sessions and witnesses on this important topic and that the task force, its members and the draft guideline have been the subject of some concerning statements.
As has been the case in previous meetings, I ask you, Madam Chair, to ensure a safe place for our discussions today.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
I'm still hearing the translation right now in my headset. There's something wrong with the timing. I don't know if anybody else is getting that.
Conservative
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
I'm still hearing stuff. I don't know if she's still talking.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Shelby Kramp-Neuman
At this point, it seems as though you're the only MP who is having issues. Do you want to try unplugging and plugging it back in?
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
Okay.
“As has been the case in previous meetings”.... This is what I'm getting.
