Mr. Speaker, the worldwide economic cost of blindness and low vision has been estimated to be $25 billion U.S., according to Vision 2020. A major object of Vision 2020 is to prevent the world's blind population swelling from its present level of 45 million to the projected total of 72 million.
All of Canada's World Sight Day organizers support this goal through ongoing programs.
Christian Blind Mission International provides funds and personnel to restore and save sight and enable those who are permanently disabled. ORBIS operates the world's only flying eye hospital. The Canadian National Institute for the Blind provides Canadians who are blind, visually impaired and deaf-blind with a variety of services, including orientation and mobility training, vision rehabilitation, technical aids, counselling and referral, and career development and employment.
I would like to invite all my fellow MPs to mark World Sight Day on Thursday, October 9, at 12:30, with a gathering outside on the steps in front of Centre Block.