Rose pursuant to notice of May 1, 2019:

That she will call the attention of the Senate to the issue of vaccine hesitancy and corresponding threats to public health in Canada.

She said: Honourable senators, today I rise to call the attention of the Senate to the concern of vaccine hesitancy and corresponding threats to public health here in Canada.

As this is my first speech in this place, I want to begin by thanking Senators Harder, Downe, Woo and Smith for their very kind words upon my introduction to the chamber in February. I would also be remiss if I did not recognize Senator Omidvar who was my sponsoring senator and a welcoming friend in this place.

Senators, I have spent my career working to improve health outcomes for children. As a new senator, I am privileged to have the opportunity to continue this fight for a sustainable, high-quality health care system that is grounded in evidence and the Canadian values of equity and solidarity here in the Senate.

Supporting the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted in 1989, I will be a strong voice for children’s rights here in the Senate of Canada. I will advocate and work to ensure that supporting legislation and policy be developed in this place along with many of you.

Senators, I have practised medicine in Canada for over 25 years, but I was not born in this country. Like many Canadians, and indeed many senators, I was welcomed and embraced by Canada and have benefited from the opportunities that have shaped who I have become.

I am privileged to call Canada my home, a home that is ethnoculturally diverse, rich in natural beauty and rooted in egalitarian ideals, a home where everyone is free to participate in our society and economy, and where everyone has equal access to health care. It is also a home where profound health inequities exist.

I realized early during my medical training that our women, girls and children right here in Canada face significant barriers to good health and well-being. This became the focus of my work in health care planning and advocacy, to improve health equity and to expand quality health care access for women and children.

I have had the privilege of working in many countries in health care planning and assessing health and social service organizations against standards of excellence as a national and international health care services surveyor. While working in this capacity to advance quality health care, I witnessed countries with low vaccine rates struggling to deal with preventable diseases, and I know the toll that these diseases can take. It is alarming to see that here in Canada, many of us have begun to take for granted the safety and protection that we have from these preventable diseases, protections afforded to us by vaccination.

Vaccination is one of the most successful public health interventions ever. Through widespread vaccination, we have eliminated many diseases that were once common in Canada. Up until recently, we would have said, with some confidence, that Canadian children, who once faced illness from infectious diseases, now face minimal endemic threat. Unfortunately, this assurance may be changing.

In 2003, federal, provincial and territorial Deputy Ministers of Health introduced a national immunization strategy, which set out five objectives; national vaccination goals, immunization program planning, vaccine safety, procurement, and the development of an immunization registry network.

Senators, we are more than 15 years out and we have not come far enough. We have not reached many of our national vaccination goals. We have failed to develop and implement consistent national vaccine schedules. And we have not been able to put interjurisdictional issues aside and create a national immunization registry network.

While we have succeeded in making vaccines safe and accessible, many Canadians are not convinced. Parents today are hesitant, worried about the risks of vaccinating their children, even when safe vaccines are readily available.