MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Opposition.
MS JONES:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I stand today to present a
petition on behalf of women in the Province. It reads:
WHEREAS
breast cancer is the most common cancer amongst
Newfoundland and Labrador women, excluding non-melanoma
skin cancer, with approximately 370 women to be
diagnosed with breast cancer in Newfoundland and
Labrador this year; and
WHEREAS
we have one of the highest mortality rates from breast
cancer and breast cancer in young women tends to be more
aggressive; and
WHEREAS
the benchmark for Newfoundland and Labrador’s organized
breast screening program is age fifty; and
WHEREAS
women aged forty to forty-nine are not eligible to
participate in Newfoundland and Labrador’s organized
breast screening program, while women aged forty to
forty-nine are eligible in the provinces of British
Columbia, Alberta, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island,
Northwest Territories, and the Yukon; and
WHEREAS
there is evidence that routine mammography screening of
women in their forties can reduce mortality from breast
cancer by at least 24 per cent, but Newfoundland and
Labrador still does not have women in that age group to
self refer into their breast screening program;
WHEREUPON
the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call
upon the House of Assembly to allow women aged forty to
forty-nine to be eligible for breast screening to begin
at age forty and that all women be able to self refer
through Newfoundland and Labrador’s screening program.
Mr. Speaker, I present that
petition on behalf of women from all across the
Province. There will be other petitions coming in that
they have made me aware of. As they come in, I will be
presenting them in the House of Assembly.
Mr. Speaker, this is a very
important petition because it is one that could save the
lives of people in Newfoundland and Labrador if
government was to enact this legislation. It is
relative. Just last week the Government of Ontario came
forward to be the next Province in Canada to reduce the
benchmark for breast screening of women. Mr. Speaker,
they not only reduced it to age forty, they reduced it
to age thirty, which is very different and, actually,
one of first provinces across the country to do that.
Mr. Speaker, they are calling upon
the government. They are well aware of the fact that
government has referred this to a committee to look at,
but most people feel there is already a lot of evidence
out there, a lot of studies that have been done. One of
the most recent studies by a Dr. Yaffe, a renown
scientist out of Toronto General Hospital who is
recommending, very strongly, that the benchmarks for
Canadian women be reduced from age fifty to at least age
forty. There are all kinds of evidence there that
already supports this particular request.
Mr. Speaker, I attended a
conference this weekend and it was astounding to be in
the room to realize how many women in this Province, who
were in that room were diagnosed this year, but more
importantly, the number of young women, the number of
women under the age of fifty and even under the age of
forty. Actually, one of the youngest women there was
twenty-nine years old and being diagnosed with breast
cancer. I think it is a small measure; it is a small
commitment for any government to make to ensure that we
can save lives of people in Newfoundland and Labrador,
and they are asking the government to strongly consider
this.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
