What could shape the government’s ‘pan-Canadian Concussion Strategy’ – iPolitics.ca

As the new minister for health, Patty Hajdu has the task of fulfilling a longtime Liberal effort: bringing into place a nationwide plan to tackle concussions.

Specifically, shes been told by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to work with the heritage minister, rookie MP Steven Guilbeault, to implement a pan-Canadian Concussion Strategy and raise awareness around how to treat the traumatic brain injury that the federal government has estimated puts almost 100,000 Canadians in the hospital each year.

While concussions are by no means a new phenomenon, the issue seemed to be brought further into the public eye late last decade when the National Football League faced off against former players and scientists who sought to prove that the league had not taken the issue of head injuries seriously enough. A short time later, in 2012, the four major professional sports leagues in North America had introduced policies around managing concussions, signalling to amateur and youth athletes and sports organizations of the gravity of severe head injuries.

READ MORE: Prime Minister Trudeau unveils retooled cabinet in advance of 43rd Parliament

An early iteration of federal concussion legislation was presented by Etobicoke North MP Kirsty Duncan near the end of Stephen Harpers Conservative government. Duncan, who taught health courses at the University of Toronto before entering federal politics, tabled a bill in the House of Commons in 2014 to create a national concussion strategy. The legislation would have created an annual concussion awareness week in Canada, brought provincial and territorial governments together to come up with guidelines on treating and preventing concussions, and would have established a board to report to the minister as best practices evolved around treating and preventing concussions.

Close to the same time, former NDP MP Matthew Dub introduced a bill aimed at reducing major head injuries in amateur sport.

Neither bill introduced under the previous Conservative government made it past first reading.

In the platform they put forward in the ensuing election, the Liberals promised to put a portion of $30 million they would add to the budget of the Public Health Agency of Canada toward raising awareness around concussion treatment.

After being elected, the previous Parliaments ministers responsible for health as well as sport a portfolio that for a short time was led by Duncan were mandated with putting in place the same pan-Canadian concussion strategy thats now Hajdu and Guilbeaults responsibility.

What materialized in funding in Liberal budgets before they declared the promise a self-congratulatory fully met in the 2018 Fall Economic Statement, was adding $1.4 million to the federal health agencys budget over two years to harmonize provinces concussion guidelines.

A chunk of that funding was awarded to the Canadian charity Parachute, which focuses on preventing injuries. Parachute put together a bulk of the federal governments information guides on concussions that it encourages athletes, coaches, teachers, parents, school and sports administrators and health professionals to use.

One of its publications, the Canadian Guideline on Concussion in Sport, has been adopted by most of Canadas national sports organizations. Its also the foundational document for new concussion guidelines that were launched for Canadas international-caliber athletes last year.

Parachute received another $1 million after the federal government committed $30 million over five years in this years budget for the purpose of advancing safety in sport. The latest funding awarded to Parachute was given to the organization to help it raise awareness for concussions in Canada and to develop new resources for the government which included updating return-to-school and return-to-activity guidelines for children who suffer concussions.

Albeit more quietly, provincial legislatures echoed the federal governments more serious approach to tackling the issue of concussions in Canada while the last Parliament was in session.

A motion was passed by Albertas government in 2017 to recognize a day each year to promote awareness and prevention of concussions. The same year, Quebec published its first concussion management protocol for schools. It published a second edition in 2019.

Also in 2017, a bill was introduced in Manitoba proposing requirements for removal-from-sport and return-to-sport protocols in organized sport, including in schools, but that bill didnt make it further than first reading.

Prince Edward Island crafted its own program based on concussion awareness and prevention.

New Brunswick also overhauled concussion protocol training for teachers, and Nova Scotia put together an panel of experts to study safety in school sports.

Ontario took the most ambitious steps, passing its landmark Rowans Law in 2018. Named after Rowan Stringer, a rugby player who died at 17 after suffering multiple concussions, the law require coaches, trainers and parents of youth athletes to review the provinces concussion awareness tools before signing up athletes, establishes a code of conduct to minimize concussions, and establishes removal-from-sport and return-to-sport protocols.

Ontarios legislation became the baseline of recommendations made in a report published by a special subcommittee of MPsin 2018.

The subcommittee made 13 total recommendations in the report that was presented to the House of Commons on June 3.

Multiple recommendations detailed suggestions for a national Concussion Awareness Week that would coincide with Rowans Law Day in Ontario (which takes place in September). Other recommendations were about continuing to support provincial and territorial partners and other organizations that specialize in concussions, increasing concussion research and creating a board of experts to guide it, and improving the collaboration between provinces and territories that are studying the issue to encourage a truly pan-Canadian approach.

The subcommittee requested a response to its report from the government. However, because Parliament dissolved for the election, the response was never produced. Instead, the document exists as the most recent piece of Parliamentary work detailing the jumping-off point for what the three major national parties could agree on about how the strategy that Hajdu and Guilbeault are tasked with coming up with should include.

With files from Kirsten Smith

Read the original post:
What could shape the government's 'pan-Canadian Concussion Strategy' - iPolitics.ca