Debates of March 25th, 1998

Division No. 115

[John Nunziata, Independent, York South—Weston, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I will be voting yes to this motion.

(The House divided on Motion No. 2, which was negatived on the following division:)

Division No. 116

[The Speaker]

I declare Motion No. 2 lost. The next question is on Motion No. 3.

[Bob Kilger, Liberal, Stormont—Dundas, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. If the House would agree I would propose you seek unanimous consent that members who voted on the previous motion be recorded as having voted on the motion now before the House, with Liberal members voting nay, except for the member for Labrador who had to leave.

[The Speaker]

Is there agreement to proceed in this fashion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[Chuck Strahl, Reform, Fraser Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Reform Party members present vote no to this motion.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Verchères, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc members are against this motion.

[John Solomon, NDP, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

Mr. Speaker, members of the NDP present vote yes to this motion.

[André Harvey, Progressive Conservative, Chicoutimi, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the members of our party vote yes.

[John Nunziata, Independent, York South—Weston, ON]

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the wonderful people of York South—Weston, I vote in favour of this motion.

(The House divided on Motion No. 3, which was negatived on the following division:)

Division No. 117

[The Speaker]

I declare Motion No. 3 lost.

[Marcel Massé, Liberal, for the Minister of Finance]

moved that the bill be concurred in.

[Bob Kilger, Liberal, Stormont—Dundas, ON]

Mr. Speaker, if the House would agree, I would propose you seek unanimous consent that members who voted on the previous motion be recorded as having voted on the motion now before the House, with Liberal members voting yea.

[The Speaker]

Is there agreement to proceed in this fashion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[Chuck Strahl, Reform, Fraser Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Reform Party members present vote no to this concurrence motion.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Verchères, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc members vote against this motion.

[John Solomon, NDP, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

Mr. Speaker, members of the NDP in the House tonight vote no to this motion.

[André Harvey, Progressive Conservative, Chicoutimi, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the members of our party vote against this motion.

[John Nunziata, Independent, York South—Weston, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I will vote with the Conservatives on this matter as a tribute to their leader.

(The House divided on the motion, which was agreed to on the following division:)

Division No. 118

[The Speaker]

I declare the motion carried.

A motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved.

[Paul Szabo, Liberal, Mississauga South, ON]

Madam Speaker, last week I had an opportunity to ask a question of the Secretary of State for Children and Youth about the issue of fetal alcohol syndrome.

Fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol effects are permanent mental and physical damage done to the fetus caused by alcohol consumption during pregnancy. This tragedy is 100% preventable and studies have concluded that most Canadians are not sufficiently informed of the risk of even modest consumption of alcohol.

In 1992 the Standing Committee on Health produced a report entitled “Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: A Preventable Tragedy”. In the report it was found that there was no question maternal alcohol consumption could have devastating impacts on the fetus.

The basic fact is that when a pregnant woman drinks her unborn child also drinks, that is the alcohol in the mother's blood stream circulates through the placenta into the blood stream of the fetus. It is possible that the blood alcohol level of the fetus will remain at elevated levels for a longer period than that of the mother because the immature fetal liver metabolizes the alcohol much more slowly.

Research shows that 5% of all fetal defects are due to alcohol consumption during pregnancy. According to Health Canada, FAS occurs in 1 out of every 500 live births. This is more than for Down's syndrome which occurs in 1 in 600 live births.

FAS children can reflect the following: severe neurological disorders, social dysfunction, permanent behavioural problems, life span reduction, reduced brain development, learning disorders, hyperactivity, mental retardation, post and prenatal growth retardation, speech and vision impairment and other physical deformities. Needless to say, it is a very serious problem.

FAS is estimated to cost $1.5 million during the lifetime of an FAS child. The annual cost to Canada is estimated at some $2.7 billion in terms of increased health care, special education and other services.

FAE or fetal alcohol effects is very similar to FAS with the same range of problems in a less severe form and without the characteristic facial deformities. However, it should be noted that FAE occurs two to three times more frequently than fetal alcohol syndrome.

The medical profession concedes that the detection techniques are literally in their infancy in terms of their sophistication. As well, those with FAS or FAE generally have difficulties discerning the difference between right and wrong. There is a substantial concern that a large number of inmates in our prisons are victims of this terrible situation.

In October 1996 the Minister of Health and the Canadian Pediatric Society issued a joint statement in which they said that there was no safe level of alcohol consumption during pregnancy. They also said very clearly that the best decision for pregnant women is to abstain from alcohol during pregnancy.

I raise this matter in the House because I believe it is time that awareness of this issue come before the House again so all members of Parliament, and indeed all Canadians, know more about the problem. The fact is that even modest levels of alcohol consumption during pregnancy can have severe and devastating impacts on a fetus and for the remainder of their lives.

I raise the question with the secretary of state in the hopes that there can be some action taken with regard to improving public awareness of fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol effects.

[Ethel Blondin-Andrew, Liberal, Secretary of State (Children and Youth)]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House to address the problem of fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol effects.

Fetal alcohol syndrome more commonly known as FAS is a medical diagnosis that refers to a set of alcohol disabilities associated with the use of alcohol during pregnancy. Fetal alcohol effects, FAE, is used to describe children with prenatal exposure to alcohol resulting in learning disabilities.

Although there are no statistics regarding the extent of FAS and FAE in Canada, it is estimated that one to three children in every 1,000 in the industrialized countries will be born with fetal alcohol syndrome.

I should qualify this statement by saying that work is being done in Canada. Specifically the work I am familiar with is being done in B.C. by a working group of professionals. Some of the notables in that professional group are Dr. Geoffrey Robinson, a former nurse by the name of Marilyn Van Bibber, originally from the Yukon Territories, and many others who are worthy of mention.

In the interest of time I have to say that no single group, organization, community, ministry or level of government can deal effectively with the problem on its own. Broad based efforts are required, given that everyone has a stake in addressing this complex issue.

I thank my colleagues, not just the member for Mississauga South but also the member for Moncton who shares a great deal of commitment and interest in this critical issue.

I would like to make a couple of suggestions. We need a national process. Perhaps a few suggestions are in order. There are many helpful recommendations in the standing committee report entitled “The Preventable National Tragedy”. We might incorporate those into—

[The Acting Speaker (Ms. Thibeault)]

I am afraid the minister's time has expired.

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Madam Speaker, there is still very strong concern in my riding of Vancouver East regarding the immigration legislative review.

Vancouver East is one of the most multicultural ridings in Canada. It is made up of people whose mother tongue is English, Chinese, Italian, Spanish, French, Tagolog, Vietnamese, as well as other languages. Vancouver East has a strong historical multicultural root and has always welcomed immigrants from every continent.

It has the rich tradition of a working class immigrant settlement shaping such diverse neighbourhoods as Strathcona, Chinatown, Grandview-Woodlands, Little Italy, Oppenheimer Park and Japan Town.

Vancouver East is also home to many multicultural organizations and services. I provide this brief snapshot of my community to illustrate why the recommendations of the legislative immigration review concern me deeply. If implemented, the recommendations stand to fundamentally change Vancouver East as a living, vibrant example of multicultural diversity that enriches everyone in the community.

Prior to the hearings that began in Vancouver on February 27, I met with local organizations and organizations that served the immigrant communities and multicultural communities including organizations such as Success, the Chinese Benevolent Association, Mosaic, Immigrant Services Society, the Philippine Women's Centre and the Storefront Orientation Service.

My constituents and those organizations told me that they were deeply concerned about the recommendations contained in the report, particularly involving language, education and the fees imposed on prospective immigrants to Canada.

I also heard very strong concerns about the process of the review itself. Even before the report became public there was a very closed door process, by invitation only, in which many organizations not only in my riding but in other ridings were not allowed the opportunity to have input into the report before it became public.

The public hearings themselves that began in Vancouver were also something that caused a lot of concern in my riding. Many groups wanting to speak to the hearing were not heard and even though the minister provided some extra days of hearings there was inadequate time for local organizations to be heard on what really is the most serious situation involving potential change to Canada's immigration and refugee policies during the last 25 years.

There was also a lot of concern about the recommendation concerning language requirements. Reading through the report and from what I heard from my constituents is that in Vancouver East we believe very strongly that the recommendations show a very deep bias toward non-anglophone and non-francophone people. If those recommendations are implemented they would fundamentally change the kind of neighbourhood and the kind of riding that Vancouver East has been over the years.

I want to call on the government and the minister on behalf of my constituents to make it clear that this report will not be adopted. There is a lot of concern this report will be rushed through by the end of the year or that some recommendations will be dropped and that other recommendations, which maybe do not have popular support in terms of policies around refugees and lack of security around an independent process, will be pushed through by the government.

I would like to get an assurance that the government is not going to rush through legislative changes, that there will be a full and open debate around our immigration and multicultural policies and that the government will assure us that there will not be punitive and biased recommendations—