Mr. Speaker, the motion by my colleague from Timmins—James Bay is extremely important to me and the people in my riding of Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel.
Motion No. 456 calls on the government to establish a pan-Canadian palliative and end-of-life care strategy by working with provinces and territories on a flexible, integrated model of palliative care.
First of all, it is important to clearly define palliative care, since the debate could easily get off track and begin focusing on medical procedures that do not constitute palliative care.
According to the Réseau de soins palliatifs du Québec, palliative care is:
...any intervention required to improve the quality of life of people with life-threatening illnesses and their loved ones, in all areas of their lives.
According to the World Health Organization, palliative care is:
...the active total care of patients whose disease is not responsive to curative treatment. Control of pain, of other symptoms and of psychological, social and spiritual problems is paramount. The goal of palliative care is the achievement of the best possible quality of life for patients and their families.
In both of these definitions, palliative care is focused on the person's quality of life. Palliative care reduces families' emotional and financial stress. It focuses on the patient and the patient's family and reduces the cost of care by 50% or more, while mitigating the emotional stress of those who are trying to deal with the loss of a loved one.
I would like to take the time to talk about the difficulty of obtaining palliative care in many areas of Canada, Papineau being one of them. Papineau is a large, rural regional county municipality. It does not have much in the way of palliative care, since the only facilities offering this type of care are in Gatineau. That is far away, which makes it very difficult for families to be close to their dying loved ones. In the Outaouais region, the number of available spaces and beds does not meet the demand.
The community has rallied around a project to build a palliative care hospice, called Le Monarque, in Plaisance. The community is eagerly awaiting the construction of a palliative care hospice for the area covered by the Centre de santé et de services sociaux de Papineau, which includes Buckingham, Vallée de la Lièvre and Vallée de la Petite-Nation in the Outaouais. There are many working groups made up of numerous volunteers and stakeholders from throughout the Outaouais and the community who are working towards that goal.
So far, through the volunteers' hard work, a piece of land that is suitable for a palliative care hospice has been purchased, a business plan has been created and various funding, promotion and construction options for the hospice have been developed. The land is in Plaisance.
I would like to point out how great a challenge this project is. The goal is to offer palliative care, free of charge, to every resident of the area covered by the CSSS de Papineau. The demand is so great that the organization has even found a temporary solution for providing care until the hospice is built. Six beds are going to be set up in an old convent.
Manon Cardinal, the chair of Le Monarque's board of directors, is working tirelessly on this project. She is going to great lengths to make it happen. I commend her and the entire board of directors on their work. They are committed to this project and are working hard to make it reality. They entire community has come together.
We are participating in a number of fundraising events to help fund the project. One of those events had former Canadiens player Guy Lafleur as honorary chairman. He is a proud native of the area.
For six years, people have been collecting money through fundraising events. However, Le Monarque is struggling to come up with the money to construct the building in Plaisance, a project estimated to cost $1.8 million.
Ms. Cardinal is now trying to find less expensive contractors, which could help lower the cost of construction.
For example, they found someone who will dig a foundation for free and an electrician who will provide them with free labour. It is not just social and political community players who are involved in this project. This project is truly important to and driven by the community of the RCM of Papineau. This community spirit is very representative of the wonderful Petite-Nation region, where people really like to help each other out.
These dedicated volunteers have to go the extra mile because of this government's utter lack of a planning strategy. They have to perform miracles with very little in the way of resources. I commend them for their work. The federal government should show some leadership on this because the situation could be much better.
Despite the extraordinary work being done by various groups in Canada, we have an unacceptable patchwork of services, and the end-of-life care that is provided is not subject to any standards really. Only a small number of provinces consider this type of care an essential service.
That means that only 16% to 30% of Canadians have access to palliative and end-of-life care services, depending on where they live in Canada. However, there is consensus in Canadian civil society: 96% of Canadians support palliative care.
The time has come for the federal government to show leadership on this. Unfortunately, in 2007, the government cut funding from the Secretariat on Palliative and End-of-Life Care. However, in June 2011, the all-party Parliamentary Committee on Palliative and Compassionate Care recommended that the federal government restore the Secretariat on Palliative and End-of-Life Care in order to develop and implement a national palliative care and end-of-life care strategy. This committee did excellent work and truly enjoyed the co-operation of the House. You know that, Mr. Speaker. You were part of it.
I was a member of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women when it studied the issue of elder abuse. We consulted this report and understood how important end-of-life care is. I greatly appreciate the work that was done by this all-party committee. It proves that we must show some real co-operative leadership. That is what Canadians deserve and want.
The NDP believes that quality palliative and end-of-life care should go hand in hand with huge changes in our public health care system, including the expansion of quality home-based long-term care services, affordable medications and better access to primary care. We also believe that we have to take into account the geographic, regional and cultural diversity of urban and rural Canada and respect the cultural, spiritual and familial needs of first nation, Inuit and Metis people.
We must also aim at ensuring that all Canadians have access to high-quality home-based and hospice palliative end-of-life care, providing more support for caregivers and improving the quality and consistency of home and hospice palliative end-of-life care. Finally, Canadians must be encouraged to discuss and plan for end-of-life care.
I will close with the hope that this issue that is so important to my riding, and to all regions of Quebec and Canada, will be overwhelmingly supported by all members of all parties in the House. A pan-Canadian palliative and end-of-life care strategy is necessary. We must implement it, of course, together with the provinces, the territories and first nations for the benefit of all Canadians.