Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to Motion No. 456, sponsored by my colleague from Timmins—James Bay. Palliative and end-of-life care are important topics, and I would like to recognize the member for Timmins—James Bay for raising these concerns in his motion.
I would like to briefly share an experience from my riding of Okanagan—Coquihalla that I believe is relevant to the motion we are discussing here today. Back in the early 1990s, Andy Moog, a citizen from Penticton and a former elite NHL Stanley Cup winning goalie, started up a unique charity golf tournament known as Moog and Friends. Each summer, some of the NHL's finest players, coaches, general managers, and media personalities gathered to raise funds for a very important cause. That cause was the Moog and Friends Hospice House, which provides palliative and end-of-life care for loved ones in my community.
Today, Mr. Moog and many of his friends are enjoying retirement, but the legacy of the Moog and Friends Hospice House lives on to serve the community. This hospice house, and the unique care it provides, was a first at the time for our region. It has made what can be some of life's most challenging moments more bearable, so that those we love can pass on with dignity and greater understanding. That is why Motion No. 456 is an important one and will become even more important as our population ages.
Indeed, we know that by 2020, Statistics Canada projects that there will be 330,000 deaths in Canada each year. By 2041, that number will rise to more than 432,000. These statistics demonstrate the need for palliative care services right across the country. We also have to recognize that providing these services will require significant resources. In fact, since 2006, our government has invested more than $43 million to support palliative care research and has delivered $3 million to the Pallium Foundation of Canada to support training in palliative care for front-line health care providers. Our government understands the very difficult challenges faced by Canadian families when they are caring for aging loved ones who need palliative care.
We must also recognize that ultimately it is our partners in the provincial and territorial governments who have the lion's share of responsibility for managing and delivering health care, including palliative care. That does not mean that as a federal government we cannot provide support to the provinces and territories in these efforts.
The question that is most often raised, and at times debated, is how best we can provide that support. One way to improve end-of-life care is to integrate palliative care through the health care system, in all settings where people spend the end of their lives. Integrated care systems, for which our government delivered $3 million in economic action plan 2011 to support the development of this, has shown promise. This funding supports the development of community-integrated palliative care models, fostering collaboration among all jurisdictions and the health care community. The $3-million investment to the Pallium Foundation of Canada announced recently by the Minister of Health will also support training in palliative care to front-line health care providers.
The motion before the House today highlights the need for integrative models of palliative care and the need to encourage Canadians to discuss their wishes for end-of-life care. It also focuses on taking into account the geographic, regional, and cultural diversity of Canada, both urban and rural. The federal initiatives from our government to date, implemented through non-governmental organizations with expertise in palliative care, align with a number of the components that the member for Timmins—James Bay raises in Motion No. 456.
We should also not overlook that to better support front-line health care providers and to improve the quality of life and consistency of palliative end-of-life care is to make available the best and most up-to-date evidence. Research provides that evidence.
Federal investments in research also help increase the depth and scope of our knowledge of issues related to end-of-life care and the best ways to address them.
Since 2006, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research has invested over $43 million in the area of palliative care, including $7.8 million in 2012-13 alone. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council are supporting the Technology Evaluation in the Elderly Network project, which is part of the Networks Centre of Excellence program, with an investment of $23.9 million between 2012 and 2017.
This network aims at improving the care of seriously ill, elderly patients and their families through the development, rigorous evaluation, and ethical implementation of health care technologies.
While my comments earlier highlighted the responsibility of the provinces and territories, our government recognizes the federal role in providing health care services, including end-of-life care, to a number of groups including first nations and Inuit, members of the Canadian Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and veterans. These services are provided directly by the federal government or managed in conjunction with the provinces and territories.
This government's contributions, which I have just described, complement services provided by provinces and territories. In addition, the funding we have delivered for research serves to inform palliative program delivery and quality improvements at the federal, provincial, and territorial levels. Taken together, these federal actions help address the needs identified by the motion put forward by the member for Timmins—James Bay.
Indeed, this government agrees that palliative care is the best option for end-of-life care.
However, we would like to see this motion amended to instead seek the establishment of a federal framework instead of a pan-Canadian strategy as it is currently worded. This amendment would clarify the federal, provincial, and territorial roles in health care as I laid them out earlier. The development of this framework would engage provinces and territories, as well as key stakeholders, so that federal activities complement their emerging and ongoing activities; reducing the potential for duplication.
A federal framework could also provide opportunities to raise awareness, share information on federal palliative care activities, and support public awareness about advanced care planning, palliative care, and caregiving.
Without further ado, I would like to move that the motion be amended by first replacing all the words between the word “should” and paragraph (a) with the following: “develop a federal palliative and end-of-life care framework to guide the Government of Canada's efforts to improve palliative and end-of-life care. This framework will complement flexible, integrated approaches to palliative care developed by provinces and territories with relevant stakeholders; and,” and second, replacing paragraph (c) with the following: “aligns with the goals of improving access to high quality home-based and hospice palliative end-of-life care for all Canadians; supporting family caregivers, particularly those balancing paid work and caregiving responsibilities; improving the quality and consistency of home and hospice palliative end-of-life care in Canada; and encouraging Canadians to discuss and plan for end-of-life care”.
Again, I appreciate the opportunity to stand in this House to speak to the member's motion, show our support, and bring forward an amendment that we think could allow us all to rally behind this cause.