Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise today to speak to this important private member's bill. I thank the member for Cowichan—Malahat—Langford for bringing forward Bill C-277. I suspect I will echo many of the comments made already this evening. I believe there is broad support for this bill. It is definitely great to see an important step forward.
The bill would provide for the development of a national strategy to support and to improve brain injury awareness, prevention and treatment, as well as the rehabilitation and the recovery of persons living with brain injuries. Brain injuries, unfortunately, are becoming exceedingly common, and there are a number of factors for that. Perhaps part of it is that we are getting better at detecting and diagnosing these injuries, but I understand that a lot more work needs to be done to address the treatment aspect and how it would be monitored going forward.
Unfortunately, we do not understand brain injuries as well as we should or as we need to, and how that pairs with mental health. Many Canadians struggle with the negative impacts of mental health. There are 165,000 Canadians who suffer a brain injury each year. That is a staggering number of Canadians who are impacted by brain injuries, which speaks to the need for Bill C-277. An estimated 1.5 million Canadians are living with these injuries presently. I will repeat that 165,000 Canadians suffer an injury each year. That is why we need a strategy, more treatment and a better understanding through a national framework.
The member who brought the bill forward touched on a number of important aspects intertwined with brain injuries and health, one of which is opioids. Nearly 22,000 opioid-related hospitalizations have resulted in brain injuries from 2016 to 2020. We also know that brain injury survivors are four times more likely to develop addiction issues. I applaud the member for bringing this bill forward. He has commented in this place on the importance of how this is impacting opioids and addictions.
Taking a step back, the issue of addictions is, unfortunately, far too prevalent across the country. We are in a mental health and addictions crisis. That is seen in northwestern Ontario where I am from, in the district of Kenora. Far too many people are struggling with mental health and addictions that lead them to homelessness or some other precarious and vulnerable situations. We are seeing this over and over again. It has led to concerns for the safety of vulnerable residents struggling with their addictions, for the safety of other residents, of tourists and of the small business community in the downtown core in Kenora. An increase in crime has accompanied this, as well as other negative health outcomes.
With the addictions crisis and the lack of treatment and recovery options that exist, people have, unfortunately, shared needles and have been doing a number of unsafe things. We have seen an increase in HIV cases across the Kenora district as well, all stemming from this addictions crisis. In 2022, statistics show there were more HIV cases in Kenora than in the previous eight years combined. That shows the dramatic increase as a result of the addictions crisis. That is part of the reason the Conservative Party has been staunch in its support for more treatment and recovery options, which are incredibly lacking in northwestern Ontario, and I think right across the country. People struggling with addictions need places they can go to hopefully break through that cycle so that they can lead drug-free lives.
The member for Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, who brought this forward, has also spoken about how domestic violence plays into this. It is another very important topic to speak about. Brain Injury Canada estimates that 35% to potentially as high as 80% of women who experience domestic violence also experience symptoms of a traumatic brain injury. These are staggering numbers. I share them here today to again underscore the importance of this legislation.
I want to now go to the bill specifically. There are many things in it that are encouraging and are positive steps forward. I want to refer to a couple that are of particular interest to me and that I think are particularly positive. The bill talks about the content of such a strategy. It mentions that it would “promote awareness and education with particular emphasis on improving public understanding and protecting the rights of persons living with a brain injury”.
As well, it would “identify challenges resulting from brain injury, such as mental health problems, addiction, housing and homelessness issues and criminality, including intimate partner violence, and work to develop solutions in collaboration with stakeholders”.
There is one more that I will end on. It would “encourage consultation with mental health professionals, particularly in educational institutions, sports organizations and workplaces, to provide persons who are suffering from the effects of a brain injury, including mental health and addiction problems, with a support system within the community”.
The bill is very well crafted, but those are three that are of particular interest to me. I want to stress this with respect to sports organizations particularly. I have had a bit of experience with that throughout my life, playing sports, and now, being back home as a football coach in my community as well. The need to recognize head injuries, concussions and how to identify them is definitely evolving and people are getting better at that, and I think sports organizations are doing great work in that. There is definitely a long way to go in that regard.
It is a bit interesting that we are having this debate today. It is also the kickoff to the Canadian Football League season today. It is a big deal in my household. I know that the defending champions, the Alouettes, are going to be in Winnipeg to take on the Blue Bombers. That is what makes me think about the importance of this bill because we have seen, both in amateur sports and professional sports, incredible measures being taken to address concussions. I will stick with football because it is one that is dear to me.
We have seen more concussion spotters, independent of any team, who are able to identify players experiencing symptoms and can have them pulled from the field and properly assessed. I know that up until that point, it was quite easy for players to be a bit stubborn about what they were experiencing and, frankly, to push off some of the stigma. There was a bit of a stigma to it. If they were not bleeding or did not have an obviously broken bone sticking out through their body, then people would tell them that they were fine. Also, the CFL, the Canadian Football League, as well as the NFL in the United States, are bringing forward the use of guardian caps, a protective shell over the helmets of football players that can now be used in games. The Canadian Football League has estimated it has seen a 42% decrease in training camp concussions, as well as a 20% reduction in head impact severity.
This is all to say that there is great work being done already, and it is important that we support that and that we advance that work. I think this bill will help address that with sport organizations in particular.
I want to thank the NDP member for Cowichan—Malahat—Langford for bringing this forward, and all the previous speakers who have spoken quite eloquently on this bill. I look forward to seeing this come to fruition in the near future.