Environment committee  I absolutely think that's something the Cancer Society would give consideration to as a possible policy to address this issue. As we look towards creating this final ban on asbestos, I think we really need to look at moving the legislation that pertains to it from a controlled use approach to an outright ban.

Environment committee  Yes, I think we want to move beyond that risk-based approach to a more hazard-based approach. We know that there's no safe exposure and we know that over time it does start to break down just through the wear and tear in a building and that people will eventually be exposed, so we need to address that issue of exposure.

Environment committee  That's right. Just to pick up a bit on the piping, the asbestos cement pipes that are used in Canada are made of a mix of cement that contains asbestos within it. We know they have up to 12% asbestos, which is quite a high content. That's one of the main uses that we see. We also know that construction workers installing these drainage pipes are supposed to use a snap-cutting technology that wouldn't create dust.

Environment committee  No. I think the case in Saskatchewan is an interesting one, and their registry has definitely faced some obstacles, but they've gotten to a point now where they have basically mandated that all public buildings have to go through a study to determine whether or not they contain asbestos, and then the reporting mechanism is really quite simple.

Environment committee  No, that's okay. Thanks.

Environment committee  Through all our regions, we have outreach programs that partner with different community groups and go out and provide education to all different kinds of community groups, including school groups and young children. On a broader national scale, we have a website called “It's My Life!”

Environment committee  A lot of the work that we do involves educating vulnerable communities, aboriginal peoples among them, about the importance of screening and cancer prevention. We do a lot of work with aboriginal communities, for example, in Ontario, to promote the importance of screening, and we've seen a significant uptick in the rates of screening among people in our northern Ontario communities.