Debates of Nov. 3rd, 2010

[Carole Lavallée, Bloc, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, music is not free. Musical works belong to the artists, and that is why we have copyright legislation. I know that copyright is an English word that means “the right to copy”, but in French, and it is the French-language principle that I am defending, we talk about droit des auteurs or “the right of the authors”. I hope that the interpreters do not laugh at my English.

We need to remember that in any given year, about $10 million is distributed to artists. If we do not modernize the private copying system, we will no longer have a need for copyright legislation, since there will be no more authors. Music is not free. We must compensate our authors. We must pay for what we use.

[Dean Del Mastro, Conservative, Peterborough, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I agree that music should not be free. Artists should be compensated. That is why we want to re-establish a market-based system whereby we can actually protect people's rights so that when they have a product, they can sell it and get paid.

Once again, the member is saying, “We understand people are going to steal music, so let us just charge them a couple of bucks up front, maybe as much as $80 on an iPod”, which is the iTax we keep describing. She is saying, “Let us just charge the iTax and we will allow them to steal music”. I do not accept that. The Canadian recording industry does not accept that. The member does not have a single person from the cultural industry, not one, who is telling her not to support copyright modernization.

The member can hold out on this issue if she wants. The bottom line is that we are going to stand up for consumers and we are going to stand up for artists.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I raised a question in the House a while back about child and maternal health for first nations, Métis and Inuit. It is no surprise that I did not find the answer to be adequate.

I am referring to a report from April 2009 of the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women's Health and the Prairie Women's Health Centre of Excellence. They have ably outlined the many problems with aboriginal maternal and child health in this country. I only have a couple of minutes, so I will only touch on a couple of points. They made 14 recommendations. I want to mention a couple of these recommendations before I get to some of the data.

One of the recommendations was that an analysis be conducted as to the budget actually spent on the direct front-line delivery of aboriginal maternal and infant health programming, distinguishing federal program administration costs from what actually reaches the community.

They also recommended that incentives be investigated for retaining and recruiting trained workers in the communities; that they move to multi-year arrangements and more streamlined application reporting procedures; that they develop a matrix for gauging cultural success in their proposals based on criteria that the communities themselves determine; that Jordan's principle be implemented by all levels of government and that it be heralded as a best practice in child-centred care; and that a best practice be to move aboriginal midwifery forward toward the repatriation of birthing to aboriginal communities.

Those recommendations were based on very detailed research. What they did find was that the data in aboriginal communities is inadequate and incomplete. Their fear was that there is a real risk of understating and thus underserving the true need for maternal and child health programs.

I want to cite a couple of statistics. They say, for example, that the life expectancy of the Métis is unknown as are rates for infant mortality, low birth weight and types of cancers. They go on to say that the health issues and concerns of Métis communities, and in particular Métis women, have largely been ignored in health research and data policy and implementation.

They also say that although there is better health data for aboriginal infants, it is dated. Even in that dated material which goes back 10 years, the differences in live births for aboriginal versus non-aboriginal are significant. It is 8.0 per 1,000 live births compared to 5.5 per 1,000 live births for Canada as a whole. There are many more statistics in the report.

The final frightening statistic is that the rate of death from injuries is four times greater for aboriginal infants, and among preschoolers the rate is five times greater.

I ask the parliamentary secretary, how many of these recommendations that were put forward are actually being considered and being implemented? What are the costs associated with the implementation of some of these recommendations?

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, let me begin by saying that the health and safety of all Canadians is important to our government. We are committed to improving health outcomes for first nations and the Inuit. We recognize that strategic investments in maternal and child health lead to greatly improved long-term health outcomes, which is why we will continue to work with our partners to support maternal and child health programs in first nations and Inuit communities.

Budget 2010 has demonstrated our government's ongoing commitment to improving aboriginal health outcomes by investing $285 million over two years. This investment will be put towards aboriginal health programs in the areas of diabetes, suicide prevention, health human resources, the aboriginal health transition fund, and maternal and child health.

Our government supports a range of programs and services that promote improved health outcomes for first nations and Inuit children and their families. These initiatives support healthy pregnancies, healthy births and healthy child development.

Through these programs, the Government of Canada is helping to address factors that impact maternal and infant mortality in first nations and Inuit communities by promoting healthy behaviours such as smoking cessation, increasing access to quality prenatal care and regulated birth attendance, and providing information on maternal nutrition.

As well, through the maternal and child health program, the Government of Canada works to ensure that first nations women, children and families reach their fullest developmental and lifetime potential.

Specific services through the maternal and child health program include home visits by nurses and family visitors for first nations pregnant women and families with infants and young children, to provide follow-up, referrals and case management, as well as screening and assessment of pregnant women and new parents' access to the services they need.

In the north, the program enhances disease prevention and health promotion activities provided for Inuit communities by the provincial and territorial governments.

We have also initiated activities to improve maternal and infant nutritional health care through the Canada prenatal nutrition program, including breastfeeding promotion and support, nutritional screening, education and counselling, and maternal nourishment.

The first nations and Inuit component of the Canada prenatal nutrition program has an annual budget of $14 million and currently reaches over 9,000 first nations and Inuit women per year at approximately 450 project sites, which serve more than 600 communities.

Health Canada is also investing $16 million annually to prevent fetal alcohol spectrum disorder births and to improve health outcomes for those affected in first nations communities.

Our government also monitors maternal and infant health through the Canadian perinatal surveillance system. Through this system we work with leading experts from across the country to analyze and report on women's health in pregnancy and childbirth.

In the north, we are supporting the Government of Nunavut in its responsibility to provide health services to all territorial residents, including those for new mothers and children.

The territorial health system sustainability initiative is a five-year, $150 million program that supports territorial health system reforms and offsets medical travel expenses in the three territories.

My colleague asked about midwifery. Budget 2010 confirmed a two-year, $60 million extension of the territorial health system sustainability initiative to provide the opportunity for territorial governments to continue building upon the successes realized over the first five years. As part of the initiative, Nunavut dedicated substantial resources to expand community midwifery services and modernize its midwifery act.

Our government is committed to helping first nations and Inuit leaders, partners and stakeholders to ensure access to quality health programs for infants, children and families in all first nations and Inuit communities.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the parliamentary secretary for his answer, but in this 2009 report there were still some serious gaps in any number of programs. I do not have time to list them all, but some are the Aboriginal Head Start on Reserve, Brighter Futures, the Canadian prenatal nutrition program, the fetal alcohol spectrum disorder program, maternal child health, the targeted immunization strategy, and on and on.

One step that the government could take that would signal its intention to put children first is to fully implement Jordan's Principle, which was passed unanimously in this House of Commons. That was one of the recommendations of this report. It said that Jordan's Principle should be implemented by all levels of government and that it be heralded as a best practice in child-centred care.

If we truly believe that first nations, Métis and Inuit children should come first, when will the government implement Jordan's Principle fully?

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the difference between our government and the NDP is that we are committed to working with the stakeholders and our partners in the first nations community.

Budget 2010 has demonstrated this government's ongoing commitment to improving aboriginal health outcomes with an investment of $285 million over two years to renew aboriginal health programs in the areas of diabetes, suicide prevention, health human resources, the aboriginal transition fund, and maternal and child health.

The sad thing is that the NDP voted against all these initiatives.

Health Canada is helping to address the factors that have an impact on maternal and infant mortality in first nations and Inuit communities, by supporting programs that aim to promote healthy behaviour such as smoking cessation, increased access to quality prenatal care and regulated birth attendance, and providing information on maternal nutrition.

Health Canada will continue to work with partners and stakeholders on maternal and child health programs in first nations and Inuit communities to reduce the gaps in maternal and infant mortality rates between first nations and the Inuit and the general population.

We hope that the NDP gets behind these initiatives instead of constantly voting against all the good initiatives that--

[The Acting Speaker, Barry Devolin]

Order, please. The motion that the House do now adjourn is deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 7:11 p.m.)