Mr. Speaker, I would very much attach myself to the remarks of my learned colleague from Saanich--Gulf Islands. He has in a very eloquent way put into perspective for Canadians and for the House the importance of this bill.
He stated in a very poignant and emotional way that while others were fleeing those World Trade Center buildings that were under attack, while others were running for their lives to escape that atrocity, emergency workers, police officers and firefighters were running in. They were going into the buildings and many of them did so at a horrific cost, the cost of their own lives.
Not to put too fine a point on it, the bill brought forward by the member for Fraser Valley, my colleague in the coalition, is aimed specifically at allowing those firefighters, emergency care workers or anyone else who acts in a magnanimous way to at least be afforded the right to know what terrible consequences might flow from those actions. It helps those persons who put their own health and safety secondary to their attempts to assist people in dire straits, whether it be someone who has fallen ill on the sidewalk or victims of catastrophe. It helps those persons who put their lives at risk.
Let me be clear on what we are talking about. What I am talking about is the contracting of a deadly illness or life altering virus that the person who has acted so selflessly may have contracted in the process of rendering assistance. That also applies to citizens. If we are to encourage the values we all hold so dear in Canadian society, such as encouraging people to help their neighbours, encouraging people to help those in dire straits or those in need, I think it certainly bears enshrining in law the ability to later assist those individuals in finding out if in fact they have contracted a life altering illness.
There are so many practical and pragmatic elements to the bill. To reiterate the comments of my colleague from Saanich--Gulf Islands, the bill would allow those individuals some certainty and peace of mind as to the ensuing consequences of their actions. It would allow them to find out, for example, whether they have to undergo agonizing treatments in many instances, whether they have to embark on a process of prevention by taking chemical cocktails that are intended to fight off or in some ways stave off the effects of the illnesses that may have been contracted, whether it be hepatitis C, AIDS or any other illness that might be contracted through exchange of bodily fluids.
It could be the act of a civilian coming upon an accident scene where blood has been spilled. We have to speak in these graphic terms. If that person, in his or her efforts to save an individual in need or to somehow try to revive an individual, contracts an illness the bill would simply provide a legal avenue that can be pursued to determine whether an illness has been contracted.
I very much commend my learned colleague for bringing forward this issue. I think he has done so with the assistance of many Canadians across the country, many who work in emergency services and those who would be directly affected by this. If nothing else, what happened on September 11 put into a profound perspective for everyone the incredibly valuable and important service that is provided by emergency service workers.
As previously stated, I hope all members of the House will neither flinch nor hesitate in supporting this legislation so that it might be put forward immediately.