Madam Speaker, I would like to start by congratulating my colleague on his excellent initiative. I understand this is the second time he has tried to raise our awareness of this issue through the means available to him, namely a private member's bill. Should he ask for unanimous consent for his bill to be deemed votable, therefore allowing the debate to continue in the House, he will have the support of the Bloc Quebecois.
I have been the Bloc Quebecois health critic for three years now. I was appointed during the Krever inquiry. I believe it should be recognized that Quebecers and Canadians were made aware of hepatitis C, among others, through the Krever inquiry.
Today we must reflect on the importance of an awareness month. It is not simply an academic exercise when we have an awareness week, month or day, or when parliamentarians want to declare an awareness month just as we have World AIDS Day. Earlier the parliamentary secretary reminded us that there is also a liver disease awareness day and a cancer awareness day.
It is not just academic, since an awareness day, we hope, will lead people in the various communities in Quebec and Canada not only to discover the various forms of hepatitis but to work together to support those who have the disease.
It has been pointed out that there are various types of it. I think we are more familiar with hepatitis C, which is transmitted by body fluids, by the blood. We are more familiar with hepatitis C, of course, because of what happened in Canada's blood supply in the early 1990s.
The first recommendation of the Krever Commission was that there be a no fault compensation package. A person with hepatitis C may have contracted it not only because of what they have done but through circumstances over which they had absolutely no control, such as in the case of a blood transfusion.
As the person receiving the transfusion is not responsible for anything other than for needing a transfusion, for needing blood at one time or another in their life, we do not understand why the compensation package is not universal. However, different types of hepatitis are transmitted in different ways, and in these cases, prevention is necessary. This is the case with food, water and certain health conditions.
If there were awareness days and programs, if the media got involved, if people in the various communities mobilized to get this information out, we as parliamentarians are betting that the more people are informed, the less they will be at risk. This was what we counted on in the early 1980s, when acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, better known as AIDS, was first discovered.
I well recall how, in the early 1980s, the various forms of AIDS, its side effects and methods of transmission, were unknown. There were international conferences. Canada hosted two: one in Montreal, in 1992, and the other in Vancouver, in 1996. Once again, awareness is needed, because awareness leads not only to less risky behaviour, but also to the reflex that is necessary in a certain number of cases of transmission of hepatitis C, where one can be a carrier without knowing it.
The House was reminded earlier that there are 700,000 Canadians with hepatitis C; this is also the figure I had. It is staggering. This means that hepatitis, particularly hepatitis C, is the 10th most frequent cause of death. There is also another reality which governments face and for which awareness is important. That reality is that there are close to 50,000 Canadians who, as we speak, are perhaps at work, perhaps playing sports, are perhaps in a classroom, in a park or with their parents or friends, and who do not know that they have hepatitis.
This is why governments must support any initiative that will promote awareness.
Technology is changing. There are more sophisticated technologies that help to track these people. If my information is correct, the Government of Canada announced in 1999 or in 2000 that $300 million would be provided in the next years to help track, through the blood banks and the hospitals, people who have had blood transfusions.
Governments must implement mechanisms for reaching people and tracking those who, at some stage in the medical chain, may have had access to blood products and may be carriers.
That being said, there is no point in panicking, in thinking that the blood system is not safe. I remind members that the Krever commission, in its report, had come to the conclusion, after the various corrective measures it had proposed were taken, that right now, in Canada, there is one chance in a million that a blood product is not safe.
In Canada and in Quebec, we have a very safe system of blood transfusion, supply, collection and distribution. But as a physician reminded us, there is always some danger associated with a blood transfusion just as there is with an operation. However, statistics show that the blood supply and distribution system in Canada is just as safe an anywhere else.
Also, community awareness can be increased. The example set by young Joey Haché is quite something. Members will surely agree with me that it took a lot of courage to cycle across Canada and visit every community along the way. This young man, still a minor, represented our best hope and gave us our most solid and real example of how community awareness and support can be increased.
Should we not be asking ourselves if someone in the House will continue the remarkable work started by Joey. In a sense, our colleague, the hon. member for Sackville—Musquodoboit Valley—Eastern Shore, is asking us to complete the work started by Joey.
I am quite proud that I was able to remember the whole name of the member's riding. It is more complicated than Hochelaga—Maisonneuve. What our colleague is asking us to do is to continue the work started by Joey.
To conclude, I hope that this bill will be made votable and that we will be able to increase community awareness and support, because that is where our best hope lies.