Breast Cancer Sisters Information-ER
Breast Cancer Awareness/ Wigs /Symptoms & Support /Lymphedema/ER Neg
Blog
January 14,2006
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Happy New Year to all!!
I have been busy these last few weeks, adjusting the pages here, and also writing to our local candiates in the upcomping federal elections here in Canada.
I am posting what I received from the CBCN, and I urge as many as possible to take all 5 questions, or even just 1 and send to your local candiates:
Let's work together to make access to breast cancer information, support
and treatment a Federal election issue!
To find your candidate by party, go to the following websites:
Bloc qu?b?cois : http://www.blocquebecois.org/fr/videomaton_2005_liste.asp
Conservative Party of Canada: http://www.conservative.ca
Parti conservateur du Canada :
Green Party of Canada/Parti vert du Canada :
Liberal Party of Canada: http://www.liberal.ca/candidates_e.aspx
Parti lib?ral du Canada : http://www.liberal.ca/candidates_f.aspx
New Democratic Party of Canada / Nouveau parti d?mocratique du Canada :
Elections Canada/?lections Canada : http://www.elections.ca/
As you know, over 21,000 Canadians are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, including 68 women and men in every Federal riding in the
country! This life-threatening illness affects entire communities,
especially families, friends and co-workers.
During the 2004 election issue, CBCN asked three questions and received
responses from the five major parties and over one hundred candidates. CBCN then disseminated media releases about these responses and posted this information on our website.
This year, CBCN's Federal Election Campaign consists of five questions.
Please consider helping with this campaign to ensure that every candidate
is aware of issues facing those diagnosed and living with breast cancer and
their families.
CBCN's Questions
Question 1: Employment Insurance Sickness Benefits
In 2004, The Canadian Breast Cancer Network conducted a survey on the
financial costs of having breast cancer. When asked whether 15 weeks of
Employment Insurance benefits were enough to get them through treatment,
75% of the 500 respondents said they were not long enough. Note that 76% of
respondents reported being off work for over 15 weeks.
If elected, will your government:
A) Immediately direct the Canada Employment Insurance Commission to ensure
that the section of the EI Monitoring and Assessment Report on EI special
benefit claims duration is broken down by illness?
B) Use the resulting information on benefit claims duration by illness to
lengthen sickness benefits for Canadians undergoing treatment for breast
and other cancers as well as other illness that require long periods of
treatment so that no one who is ill is penalized by the current limit of 15
weeks of sickness benefits?
C) Cancel the two-week waiting period for EI Sickness Benefits so that sick
Canadians are not penalized?
D) When will your government institute these changes?
Question 2: Federal Funding for the Breast Cancer Networks in Canada
The Canadian Breast Cancer Network and the provincial and territorial
breast cancer networks have been funded through the Community Capacity
Building (CCB) program of the Canadian Breast Cancer Initiative (CBCI)
since 1998-1999. The objectives of the Community Capacity Building program
are to enable networks to act/intervene at the level of communities; to
create improved conditions which allow people to access breast cancer
information and support; and to focus on network development and community
dynamics rather than individual behavior/outcomes.
However, the networks have been historically underfunded, with the entire
annual amount of funding for the entire country at $623,000. This amount
has not been increased or adjusted for inflation since the program's creation.
In 2004, the provincial and territorial networks and the Canadian Breast
Cancer Network were offered four-year funding, but with a 25% cut in
funding each year of the last three years of the funding period. By 2008,
the entire annual amount of funding for capacity building and increasing
access to information and support services to the 21,000 women
newly-diagnosed with breast cancer each year and the tens of thousands of
women living with a breast cancer diagnosis in Canada will be just
$263,829, despite the expectation of a huge jump in cancer rates as our
population increases and ages.
If elected, will your government:
A) Immediately cancel the 25% cuts in funding?
B) In consultation with the networks, immediately develop a mechanism to
enable meaningful participation of the Canadian Breast Cancer Network and
the provincial/territorial breast cancer networks in determining adequate
funding levels for their grassroots capacity building activities?
C) Immediately upwardly adjust funding to the provincial/territorial breast
cancer networks and the Canadian Breast Cancer Network?
D) Ensure that there is permanent, dedicated funding to the Canadian Breast
Cancer Initiative (CBCI)?
E) Ensure that there is permanent dedicated funding to the Community
Capacity Building program under which the Canadian Breast Cancer Network
and the provincial/territorial breast cancer networks are funded to provide
capacity building at a grassroots level?
Question 3: Wait Times
Wait times for the diagnosis and treatment of breast and other cancers
continue to lengthen in the following areas:
- The wait time from an abnormal screen to the diagnosis of breast cancer
- The wait time from the diagnosis of breast cancer to surgery and treatment
- The wait time for approval of new drugs, which involves at least two
issues: 1) the financial cost of drugs to patients and 2) the long drug
approval process that may prevent patients in treatment from receiving the
most appropriate drug treatment
If elected, how will your government:
A) Ensure that wait times are decreased across the country to meet national
best practice guidelines for acceptable wait times from an abnormal screen
to the diagnosis of breast cancer and from the diagnosis of breast cancer
to surgery and treatment?
B) Ensure faster approval of new drugs?
C) Ensure that women and men diagnosed with breast and other cancers who do
not have private drug coverage will still be able to have no- or low-cost
access to the drugs required in the treatment of breast and other cancers?
Question 4: Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control
The Canadian Breast Cancer Network has been involved in efforts to create
the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control from the beginning. The Strategy
was developed by the cancer community in response to the increasing number
of new cancer cases in Canada. If this trend continues over the next 30
years, the Canadian Cancer Society estimates that almost 6 million
Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer; about 3 million will die from
cancer; direct cancer healthcare costs will be more than $176 billion and
over $348 billion in tax revenues will be lost because of disability due to
cancer.
If your party is elected:
A) When will your government provide funding for the Canadian Strategy for
Cancer Control, a coordinated and comprehensive plan to fight cancer?
B) What is the amount of funding your government will commit over a five
year period to the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control?
C) What components of the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control will be funded?
D) How will your government ensure that the voice of patients and cancer
survivors is heard and that patients and cancer survivors are full
participants at every level of the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control?
E) How much funding per year will your government allot to patient groups?
F) What will the funding to patient groups be for?
Question 5: The Public Health Agency of Canada
According to its website, the creation of the Public Health Agency of
Canada "marked the beginning of a new collaboration with provinces and
territories on efforts to renew the public health system in Canada and
support a sustainable health care system."
"Focussed on more effective efforts to prevent chronic diseases, like
cancer and heart disease, prevent injuries and respond to public health
emergencies and infectious disease outbreaks, the Public Health Agency of
Canada works closely with provinces and territories to keep Canadians
healthy and help reduce pressures on the health care system."
If elected, will your government:
A) Ensure that funding allocated to the Public Health Agency of Canada
includes a significant, stable and dedicated amount of funding that is not
impacted by infectious diseases.
B) Ensure that there is a large amount of permanent, dedicated funding
within the Public Health Agency of Canada allocated to chronic diseases,
including cancer and breast cancer.
C) Ensure that there is a significant, permanent and dedicated funding
within the Public Health Agency of Canada allocated to the prevention of
chronic diseases, including cancer and breast cancer.
Resources
To find your candidate by party, go to the following websites:
Bloc qu?b?cois : http://www.blocquebecois.org/fr/videomaton_2005_liste.asp
Conservative Party of Canada: http://www.conservative.ca
Parti conservateur du Canada :
Green Party of Canada/Parti vert du Canada :
Liberal Party of Canada: http://www.liberal.ca/candidates_e.aspx
Parti lib?ral du Canada : http://www.liberal.ca/candidates_f.aspx
New Democratic Party of Canada / Nouveau parti d?mocratique du Canada :
Elections Canada/?lections Canada : http://www.elections.ca/
WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE WHEN WE WORK TOGETHER!
Hugs to all
Barb
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