Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak in support of this private member's bill by the member for Kitchener—Conestoga. Here I would also refer to the fact that the bill originated in the other place and was brought forward by Senator Jim Munson.
On December 18, 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 62/139 that would recognize April 2 of each year as World Autism Awareness Day. One hundred and ninety-two United Nations representatives agreed that World Autism Awareness Day would draw the attention of people around the world to this neurological disorder.
As we have heard colleagues say, much about the disorder is a mystery to the general public. Any way to raise awareness and understanding of the disorder, the developmental disabilities and the behavioural issues that occur with this disorder, is going to be very important.
We do know that 1 in 150 Canadian children is diagnosed with some form of the autism spectrum disorder. The number of new cases, we think, is increasing anywhere from 10% to 17% a year. Boys are four times more susceptible than girls.
Autism spectrum disorder is a neurological disorder resulting in a developmental disability that affects communication, social understanding, behaviour, activities and interests. As with any spectrum disorder, we are looking at a range from mild to severe and moderate or in-between levels. We are talking about very different levels of issues and problems with these young children.
It is the most common neurological disorder among children. There is no cure, but there are methods of dealing with the disorder through recognition of early symptoms and getting testing done. We know that it can be recognized in children as young as six to twelve months old.
Once a child is diagnosed, it is important to get the necessary health team in place. This is a complex team made up of physicians, specialists, therapists, psychologists and teachers who are trained to understand the complexity of autism.
One problem that we have in Canada, which we must raise awareness about, is the unequal access across the country to spectrum disorder care. Some provinces provide it but some do not. There is an inability to deal with this issue across the country in a similar way. Here we know that Canada Health Act tells us that we need to have accessibility no matter where one lives and regardless of one's ability to pay. Therefore, it is unacceptable that Canadians do not have the same access to care regardless of where they live and regardless of their socio-economic status.
While we know that many people can afford to pay for the care, to get the teachers and to pay for the psychologists, we also know that in some instances the problem is the following. The Canada Health Act deals with physicians and hospitals, but because many children with autism spectrum disorder do not have to be in a hospital or do not have to be treated by a physician only, psychologists, therapists, or other kinds of help not covered under medicare or the Canada Health Act are not paid by medicare and people then have to pay out of their pockets. There are many families who cannot afford this. Therefore, the ability to have access to care based on the ability to pay is a real problem for many of these families.
The Autism Society of Canada is calling on the federal government to take a leadership role. What we see here today is a private member's bill that speaks to the issue of a day of awareness.
Awareness is not enough; we need to know what that awareness will lead to. As soon as we are aware of something in the country, especially something that deals with children, we need to think of the fact that Canada is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and that children should have the right to access the care they need when they need it. Recognizing and being aware of the day will lead us into thinking what we are going to do about it. How will the federal government take a leadership role in coordination across the country so we do not have a disparity in terms of people's ability to access care based on the province they are living in?
Among the things that the Autism Society of Canada is suggesting is that we increase funding for provinces and territories to provide critical treatment as defined under the Canada Health Act, even though many of the caregivers are not actually defined within the Canada Health Act, and that we also provide education, professional training and the required supports for Canadians with autism spectrum disorder.
The Public Health Agency of Canada, as we heard earlier, is going to look at this from a national pan-Canadian priority. It will look at surveillance, reporting and how we gather data. Do we know for sure that there is an increase of 10% to 17%? Are we diagnosing appropriately? Are we able to track how many people have been diagnosed or missed because they happen to be on the mild end of the spectrum disorder? This is the kind of information we need to gather. This is something the Public Health Agency of Canada can do, not only surveillance and reporting but setting national standards for treatment, such as what constitutes treatment for this disorder and how we deliver the services appropriately to children across the country.
We need to look therefore at allocating significant funds targeted for autism spectrum disorder research and to find out more about how the Canadian Institutes of Health Research can determine cause, early detection and ways to deal with treatment. As we have heard, improving financial and other supports to individuals is key. A lot of this is not covered under the Canada Health Act. Caregivers are not covered under the act. This is part of what we have talked about with the Canada health accord: how we expand the way we care for people with chronic disease; and how we manage these diseases so people have the ability to live with dignity within our society and be given the best opportunities to realize their potential. This is a core piece of what we are talking about.
We need to look at ways to improve financial and other supports to individuals who cannot afford it, especially through the federal tax and labour systems. As we know, for many families, one parent has to stay at home, give up a job and the family loses a significant amount of income. Therefore, we need to look at that kind of assistance. In many instances, even if one parent can can stay at home to look after a child, there will be stress on that family member and there will be a need for some kind of respite care. We need to look at that kind of built-in way of helping families cope.
One thing we need to talk about is how to develop a national strategy on autism spectrum disorder. This bill seeks to raise awareness and understanding, especially among children of this disorder. As they see their playmates or those who should be their playmates behaving in a very disruptive manner or strangely sometimes, young kids need to understand. We have seen this happen in the past. We have helped young children understand persons with other physical and mental disabilities. People now take for granted young people with other mental disabilities being in their classrooms. They learn to live with them, understand them, make allowances for them and bring them into the system of education and care.
What we hope to try to do in many ways is normalize and integrate young children into society with this disorder. Helping kids understand the behaviour of other kids is a key part of it, as well as training teachers and helping them understand early diagnosis and helping parents learn what to look for in a young child and to pick it up very early.
Given that all members of the House seem to support this private member's bill, we need to do what is required, which is better screening, early intervention, accurate and timely diagnosis, equal access to care across Canada, educational needs and supporting adults and seniors with ASD and their caregivers.