Mr. Speaker, on Sunday, the whole world will celebrate the 14th annual Cancer Survivors Day. It is the largest cancer survivor event.
It was organized for the first time in 1987 in Kansas City by Richard Bloch, a cancer survivor, and his wife Annette, to remind people that a diagnosis of cancer is not an automatic death sentence.
Since then, each year, on the first Sunday in June, we pay tribute to those who are undergoing or have undergone cancer treatment. Statistics show that in Canada one person in three will be diagnosed with cancer.
But it is reassuring to know that more than half of those affected by cancer can look forward to a full recovery. The great hope of researchers is to someday be able to cure all those who are diagnosed with cancer. Several colleagues in the House and myself are living proof that cancer can be beaten.
I encourage all those who are engaged in a battle against that disease to hang in there and to keep their hopes up.