Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in this House in support of Bill S-206.
On a personal note, I too would like to commend the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry for sharing his personal experience. I think stories like those are rather exceptional, especially for someone like me who has never had this personal experience. I want to commend the hon. member and wish him well.
It is exactly this type of situation that makes a seemingly symbolic gesture so important because, like many mental or brain-related illnesses, there are many unknowns. Increasing public awareness gives us the opportunity to do more research and more work to help the friends and family of individuals with autism. Their family members become their caregivers for their entire lives. It is not like other situations where people become ill at a certain age and their family needs to care for them at that stage. In this case, we are talking about children whose families want to watch them grow like any other child in this world and in our community.
I would like to take a more personal approach to this topic by looking at the work of Emergo, which is located in my riding. This organization is very well known in Quebec and provides respite services. One of their summer respite camps is located in my riding of Chambly—Borduas, in Otterburn Park.
A very long time ago, when I was in elementary school, I had the opportunity to visit this camp because Emergo shares this land with the public. The elementary school I went to had rented part of the camp for us to celebrate the end of the school year. It was in Les Bosquets. That was my first experience meeting kids with autism. It really opened my eyes, because I saw people and the organization working with them. Even at a young age—I do not want to delude myself by saying that I understood the complexity of the issue—I thought it was something special to see. That really helped me much later when I became the member of Parliament for the region. I was able to return to Les Bosquets and visit this organization, this time to work with them and help them with their work.
The respite service they offer gives parents and family members of children with autism the opportunity to take some time off in the summer because caring for an autistic child is a major challenge. As I said at the beginning of my speech, we can never truly understand what parents and families in this situation are going through. We can never understand and speak on their behalf because this is such a unique challenge. Emergo is one of the organizations that has the courage and conviction to help these people, and the work it does is very important.
When I had a chance to meet with representatives of the organization, they had a lot to say about their efforts to raise awareness. During the most recent election campaign in Quebec, people were very interested in the interviews with the political party leaders on Tout le monde en parle. During one episode featuring an interview with a party leader, there was another guest, Roxanne Héroux, a former LCN reporter, who has two autistic children. She had a lot to say about the importance of community, family, parents and others working together, raising awareness among themselves and supporting people who are coping with these problems.
She talked not only about autism, but about all kinds of problems and crises that families may go through with their children. It was extremely touching as testimony to this experience and a powerful interview. When I talked about the interview with people from Emergo, they said it was very interesting that I was touched by this interview, because this demonstrated to me just how much more awareness is needed among the general public so that we can provide those affected with the help they need. There is nothing glamourous about Emergo's work. Unfortunately, it gets very little recognition in the community. This is not because of bad faith, or because the community does not want to recognize that work.
It is primarily because people are simply not aware of everything that goes on or the various services that are available. The very fact that people are unaware undermines Emergo's work, because it makes it difficult for that organization to secure funding.
I must say very sincerely that I would not dare play politics with this. In my opinion, the funding problem is not necessarily the problem of any one level of government or any one political party. I think this is a collective problem that we must all face together.
People do not understand, and it is the responsibility of parliamentarians, the members who represent various communities, to educate them. That is the purpose of this bill. Members from all political parties realize that this is merely a first step, but it is an important step, because it opens such an important dialogue.
April 2 is already recognized as World Autism Awareness Day elsewhere around the world. I think it is very important that we follow suit and do the same here in Canada. Some degree of coherence and consistency is needed in the message in order to continue this work.
I would like to talk about another very personal example, one not necessarily related to autism. However, it relates to caregivers, who face similar challenges. I spoke a little about this when I talked about a Liberal colleague's bill to establish a national epilepsy day, which was also intended to promote awareness.
I do not want to make too many comparisons because, as I said earlier, I plead ignorance. I do not know very much about the two disorders. I have heard from caregivers and families who courageously deal with these challenges. I am going to share these stories because, although they unfortunately show how little I know about these challenges, they are the reason why I support the bill.
I will not name the man in question, to protect his privacy. I met this man just before Christmas, during the holidays, when I was grocery shopping in my riding. It is sad that it was at that time of year. This man is a family friend. He told me that his wife had suffered from a malignant brain tumour at the end of her life and that he had become her caregiver. He had to take care of her at the end of her life. It was very difficult because brain cancer can affect “normal” life in different ways. The word “normal” is in quotes because it not the right word in this case.
What society considers to be normal behaviour is not the norm. In my opinion, a parallel can be drawn with the situation we are discussing today. Once again, I am being very careful. I am not saying that these are not normal behaviours, but those are “society's rules”.
The man in my example said that it was a very trying experience. What I want to bring to the debate today is that the man told me he did not blame any political party or ideology. The issue is that there is a certain lack of understanding behind our way of proceeding.
Such occasions allow people to rally behind a non-partisan issue and make an initial symbolic gesture in order to improve our understanding in the hope of providing better assistance. That is what our society does best.
That is why I am very pleased to support this bill. This is not an issue that I fully understand, but I commend the work of Emergo, an organization that does so much for my riding and with which I want to continue working. I am committed to continue supporting it and to continue supporting, in a broader sense, my colleagues who will introduce similar bills. This is a very important issue.
I also want to take this opportunity to commend my colleague opposite, who lives with this situation, and all Canadians going through this experience, this challenge, in the shadows. I commend their courage and I want to thank Senator Munson and the hon. member who introduced this bill in the House.
