Mr. Speaker, National Access Awareness Week is an excellent opportunity to remind this House of the extraordinary performance of our disabled athletes at the last Winter Olympics for the disabled.
Unfortunately, their outstanding achievements did not receive the attention they deserved. In fact, the nine medals won by Canada were mentioned only in a 30-minute television presentation by CTV. That is hardly enough to acknowledge the courage and perseverance of these athletes, for whom life itself is an achievement.
The Summer Olympics will be held two years from now, and I am confident that the Minister of Canadian Heritage will demonstrate that, in Canada, integration of the disabled is a fact and not merely wishful thinking, and urge the CBC to provide adequate television coverage of our disabled athletes at the next Summer Games.
In doing so, we will express the admiration and respect which their exceptional achievements deserve.