Mr. Speaker, September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, a chance to honour the 10,000 children currently fighting cancer today, to remember the many children we have lost, and to support childhood cancer survivors.
Although 75% of children survive cancer, more than 80% of survivors face late effects of their diseases and harsh treatments, including heart failure, lung disease, and secondary cancers. There is no known cause for childhood cancer, and therefore no prevention strategy.
Our government will continue to support cancer research so that children will have the chance to grow up. I see many of my colleagues across the aisle and on all sides of the House wearing gold pins today. They were donated by the parents of Maggie Jenkins, who passed away in 2014 at the age of 13.
It is clear to me that this House stands united in continuing to work to end childhood cancer for Maggie and for every other child suffering needlessly at the hands of this insidious disease.