Mr. Speaker, October is breast cancer awareness month. In Canada, over 17,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. On average, every day 49 Quebec and Canadian women must face this shocking piece of news. Breast cancer kills over 5,400 women every year. Today, October 7, 15 women will succumb to it.
Groups such as the breast cancer society are working hard to find a cure to this disease. The causes of it are not well known, the treatment of it is all too often ineffective and hopes of surviving it come at the cost of severe mutilation, for some women.
Basic research in this area must go on. Treatment effectiveness must keep on improving to give hope and courage to the thousands of women faced with this terrible disease.