Mr. Speaker, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a time to increase awareness and raise funds for research into breast cancer's cause, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure.
Our government funded the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care to expedite updates to breast cancer screening guidelines as more and more women, particularly indigenous, Asian and Black women, are developing breast cancer in their forties, not their fifties. However, it is currently recommended that screening begin at age 50.
The task force determined that there is not enough Canadian research to justify making a change. That in itself is unacceptable and indicates that we need more relevant and recent research done on women's health, which must include Black, Asian and indigenous women.
Unfortunately, in some provinces, the recommendation is to begin screening at age 50. That means that many women are diagnosed in the later stages of the disease, which reduces their chances of survival.
On another note, I would like to give a shout-out to all the awesome organizations and businesses, including Pink in the City and Alphabet Café, that have campaigns of their own for this very worthy cause. Their contributions are saving lives, and we want to thank them very much.