Mr. Speaker, it is our job as public servants to support citizens of our great country when they are faced with a disease as unpredictable as multiple sclerosis.
People like Denis from Trois-Rivières, Quebec, with progressive MS, states:
I’ve never received a promotion. Everyone around me was moving up the ladder, and I wasn’t. My coworkers were asking, ‘What about Denis?’ I’ve never even taken more than a week off work for my illness. There was a time when I met with one of my supervisors to discuss the issue, and he told me I should feel lucky to have a job at all...It was total discrimination.
I am inspired by Denis' story, and others like him, to advocate for simplified and flexible job and income support systems, which will ensure that those affected by MS will get the help they need and increased investments into research that helps accelerate the development of effective therapies for progressive MS.
As my dear friend Imran says, “The one of us who finds the strength to get up first, must help the other.”