Health committee  I think we have heard other people here today talk about the need for a reliable source of health human resources data so we can understand the scope of what we're dealing with, because we really don't know. I think we definitely would support any initiatives that the federal gov

Health committee  Yes, I think it's paramount that we work in the early learning and child care centres to improve outcomes for early diagnosis. Working with those ECEs directly in their centres is really important, as well as potentially working through the provinces to incorporate our services t

Health committee  I don't think we have enough research at this point in time to show that there's a long-term impact on the speech and language development in children as a result of masking. We know there's an impact. Actually, as I was waiting to come into this room, my colleague, Ms. Tomkins,

Health committee  I think it is a good idea to increase federal transfers for health, but the concept of strings attached to those transfers needs to be embedded in whatever transfers are there. How provinces and territories spend their money is not always where we would want it to be. I do suppor

Health committee  I would have to say no.

Health committee  I think there's a lack of public awareness and education around the identification of speech and language disorders. Maybe we could be working with the Public Health Agency of Canada to educate the public around the factors that place infants and toddlers at risk for speech and l

Health committee  No, there's an inconsistent approach across provinces. I think five provinces are doing relatively well on their early hearing detection and intervention programs. There's also not a universal approach to hearing screening, and we need to do better.

Health committee  Speech-language pathologists and audiologists have by and large transitioned to virtual care as a means of supporting access to speech-language pathology and audiology services. The federal government's funding of $240 million in 2020 certainly helped. However, we still need to e

Health committee  I can definitely speak to that. I think the scope of this is nationwide. This is something that is in all elements of our society. In schools, there's a lack of awareness. There's a lack of services in primary care. The scope is large. There is a lack of practitioners. There is

Health committee  I would say that even if the child is identified, there is still a lack of access to care because there are not enough speech-language pathologists, and they're not working in the areas where they're needed the most. Even if we do progress in the early identification, we still do

Health committee  Thank you very much for the question. What's really important is that there be awareness building about the need for early intervention. We know that the early intervention into speech and language problems is essential to child development services, and without that early inter

Health committee  Yes, and we applaud the federal government for its investment in the day care deals. We absolutely believe that the deployment of those day care deals is imperative, because we can work directly in day care settings with early childhood educators.

Health committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the health committee. I would like to thank you on behalf of Speech-Language and Audiology Canada and our 7,500 members. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you today about timely diagnosis and access to speech-language pathology and aud