Madam Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak to Motion No. 574, a motion respecting Alzheimer's, from the member for Edmonton—Leduc.
This debate offers us the chance to look at the specific challenges facing individuals with Alzheimer's as well as the family and friends who love and care for them. It also gives us the opportunity to open up the debate and discuss larger challenges that exist within Canada with respect to long-term community care and home care, disease prevention, healthy living, health education, and poverty, just to name a few. They are all connected.
The challenges that Alzheimer's brings to so many lives are really a microcosm of the challenges throughout our entire system, like the rising cost of medication, the need for national standards for access to care, the need for processes that allow for the sharing of best practices, and the need to help families with the emotional and financial weight of caregiving.
I have experienced this weight myself. My mother was a psychiatric nurse at a nursing home and also a single mother. I spent a good deal of my childhood in a nursing home. I have seen families deal with Alzheimer's and dementia first-hand. I have seen the different ways it affects families as well as the people with Alzheimer's and dementia. And I have seen the range of responses to what was happening to them and their loved ones.
Moreover, my grandmother had Alzheimer's. In the early stages of her disease, I was the primary caregiver living with her. It is only recently that I have come to an understanding of the stress that I was under, and that my mother and uncle were under. This stress we did not fully understand at the time.
This greater understanding that we now have of our own health very much includes brain diseases like Alzheimer's. These diseases were traditionally stigmatized and hidden from view. With this motion, we have the chance to rid ourselves of our fear of discussing aging and the way that it affects our minds and bodies. The motion also gives us the opportunity to confront the difficulties that come with caring for people who are losing control over their minds, their memories, their freedom, and their relationships.
I think this motion calls for some important things. It calls for the recognition of the patient's right to dignity, the emotional and psychological toll that Alzheimer's takes on family members, and the increasing cost pressure on the health systems providing treatment and care. It also draws attention to the roles of societal organizations that are tackling Alzheimer's head-on. Alzheimer's is a serious and devastating disease that puts an incredible strain on families, relationships, and a patient's sense of self.
The statistics are staggering and there is a gender lens we need to consider. One in six women and one in ten men who reach the age of 55 can expect to develop Alzheimer's in their lifetime. This was a staggering number for me when I read that statistic.
These numbers mean that we need swift and comprehensive action to address Alzheimer's in Canada, especially with our aging population, which some call the “grey tsunami”. We need to have a pan-Canadian framework that brings together all levels of government: federal, provincial, territorial, and first nations. Bring all levels together with a common goal of improving the responsiveness of our system with respect to diagnosis, provision of services, long-term care strategies, and the sharing of best practices.
Federal leadership is needed. The government is obligated under the Canada Health Act to ensure the universality of care, national standards, and best practices across the country for all areas of health care. We need to address not only Alzheimer's, but all the brain diseases that affect so many people in every corner of Canada.
While I support this motion's focus on Alzheimer's, we need to expand the scope to include other brain-related diseases. Alzheimer's is just one of a number of brain diseases. There are others, like ALS and Parkinson's. All of these diseases have similar effects on the lives of patients and their families: increased emotional and psychological burdens, increased financial burdens, the loss of mobility, and the loss of freedom.
Because of these similarities, I think that brain diseases can be addressed as a group, with allowances made for the differences among them. I am sure that differences exist, but we have a common goal to better the lives of Canadians.
While this is a private member's motion brought forward by the member for Edmonton—Leduc to address a problem that he recognizes in his community, that we recognize in our communities, I think that this motion showcases the Conservatives' piecemeal approach to health. We need action. We need a national strategy to deal with the issue of Alzheimer's and other brain diseases.
Alzheimer's cannot be discussed in a vacuum. Adequately addressing the inherent issues necessitates a larger discussion of our system as a tool for caring for our friends, families, and neighbours. As long as economic and social injustices are permitted to exist in Canada, the health of Canadians will continue to suffer and families will continue to tread on difficult financial and emotional ground.
Providing dignity for patients, as this motion calls for, will not happen as long as the government continues to work against true universality of care across the country. Dignity will not come if they abdicate their role under the Canada Health Act.
We will see true dignity established only when we have pan-Canadian standards for care, including long-term care, home care, community care, and palliative care. A suite a care options that individuals and families can take advantage of will recognize issues of dignity, differences in circumstance, and various familial capabilities.
By creating stability and fluidity of care and service, a comprehensive strategy would address the emotional and psychological toll that brain diseases take on family members .
A care strategy would also reduce cost pressure on the system. More long-term care beds would mean fewer people taking up acute care beds: many of them could be in long-term care at a quarter of the cost. A national strategy for addressing brain diseases would lead to cost savings and would better the lives of Canadians.
Alzheimer's affects families generally, but it is important to mention that Alzheimer's exacts a particularly large toll on women. Women are statistically more likely to develop Alzheimer's, and women are more often tasked with taking care of relatives who need living assistance because of Alzheimer's and other health conditions. If we took gender equality seriously in this House, we would already have a strong caregiving strategy and a strong Alzheimer's strategy.
This motion is well-intentioned and I support it. It is respectful of the issues facing families affected by Alzheimer's. Nevertheless, I would like to see action by the government to address the daily needs of those living with Alzheimer's and those caring for loved ones with Alzheimer's and other brain diseases.
We need to bring together the different levels of government. While I continue to hope for real government action on brain diseases, I will be happy to vote in favour of this motion on Alzheimer's, and I look forward to its being brought forward in the House for a vote.