Mr. Speaker, today is World AIDS Day, and I would like to make parliamentarians, Quebecers and Canadians more aware of the importance of this day.
No one should and no one can afford to remain indifferent to the seriousness of this disease and the physical and psychological suffering it causes.
Unknown until the end of the seventies, the AIDS virus has, in many western and developing countries, become public health problem number one. In 1993 the World Health Organization estimated that more than 14 million people throughout the world were or had been infected by HIV, and 7,000 people have died of AIDS in Canada.
It is still very important to educate the public about the risk of HIV infection. This terrible disease continues to strike down individuals of all ages, irrespective of gender or sexual orientation.
We must not give up in despair. We must persevere in our search for ways to wipe out this disease, because this is the only message of hope-