Hon. Amina Gerba: Honourable senators, I rise today to express my support for Bill S-243, the “National Framework for Women’s Health in Canada Act.” I commend Senator Henkel for this initiative and for the thoroughness of her work. I also commend all the senators who have already contributed to these debates; we have just heard from our colleague, Senator Ravalia. This is a critical issue.
I do not wish to revisit the personal story I’ve already shared with you, or talk about my experience with the health care system, but it is one of the reasons why I agreed to speak here today.
Women’s health cannot be relegated to the background; it lies at the heart of public health and directly reflects the quality and fairness of our system. We’ve made some progress, but systemic gaps persist: symptoms that go unrecognised, delayed diagnoses and inappropriate treatments. These failures are not isolated errors; they stem from a model that does not sufficiently incorporate the biological, social and cultural specificities of women.
S-243 addresses these shortcomings by proposing a coherent national framework based on four action verbs: understand, prevent, train and coordinate. The aim is clear: to move from a system that corrects after the fact to one that is proactive, takes differences into account and ensures equitable quality of care across the whole country. Let’s not forget the difference between equality and equity. Equality standardizes the services offered, while equity adapts the response to actual needs. Not all women present the same symptoms, face the same risks or live in the same circumstances. Offering them the same thing does not ensure the same opportunities.
[English]Our responsibility is to adjust our policies, practices and tools to ensure that the quality and the safety of care are guaranteed for every woman.
[Translation]Honourable senators, the birthing process is still prone to serious issues. It is a medical, psychological and social experience all in one. Too often, childbirth is treated like some routine procedure, when behind every birth is a unique story. Every mother in this chamber has a birth story. Pregnancy is just one step; childbirth is another, often more difficult step, marked by diverse realities that are rarely discussed, such as birth-related complications and postpartum depression.
A national framework is therefore highly appropriate. Among other things, it will ensure that medical teams get the tools they need and that women receive support tailored to the realities they face. Adding to this already uneven playing field is another reality that is still poorly understood, a reality known as “misogynoir.” It’s a particular kind of discrimination that combines racism and sexism and specifically affects Black women. I doubt that more than one or two people in this House have ever heard of this phenomenon before, apart from the Black women. It’s well-documented in Canada, however, having been the subject of a television report by ICI Radio-Canada. Misogynoir involves a set of stereotypes that sustain discriminatory mechanisms with tangible effects on Black women’s health. Health care professionals spend less time listening to Black women and take their pain less seriously, because they think that Black women have a higher pain tolerance, if you can believe it. As a result, Black women are examined less thoroughly and their trust is eroded.
This reality takes on a whole new meaning when we think of the late Soki Syayighosola, the mother of my assistant, Magali. She was a Black immigrant woman who died in Montreal in 2008 from internal bleeding following a miscarriage. Despite test results indicating serious danger, the on-call doctor did not believe the findings and did not even come to treat her. This death, which received widespread media coverage at the time, painfully illustrates what experts describe as the medical manifestation of misogynoir, a systemic tendency to downplay the pain, symptoms and credibility of Black women, with potentially fatal consequences.
[English]Naming “misogynoir” means acknowledging that a national framework for women’s health must explicitly address these biases.
[Translation]This systemic violence does not affect only Black women. It also affects Indigenous women, as tragically illustrated by the case of Joyce Echaquan, an Atikamekw mother who died at the Joliette hospital in 2020 after livestreaming staff using racist slurs against her. That is what our health care system is like. Her case exposed the persistence of discriminatory and dehumanizing practices that directly endanger the lives of Indigenous women.
Honourable senators, the state has a duty to guarantee a health care system that is fair, inclusive and truly responsive to women’s needs. Investing in women’s health should not be a series of isolated measures. It should strengthen the very foundations of our system, support families, foster social participation and promote prosperity. By acknowledging these gaps — whether they involve inequities in diagnosis, flaws in the perinatal continuum, social pressures that render distress invisible, or the specific barriers faced by Black and Indigenous women — we are affirming our commitment to taking sustainable and systemic action. This is how we will build a truly equitable health care system that meets the realities and needs of all women.
[English]Bill S-243 is essential because it ensures that every woman, regardless of her background, identity or where she lives, has access to care based on science, empathy, dignity and equity.
For all these reasons, I fully support this legislative initiative. By passing Bill S-243, we can finally translate repeated observations into measurable results for women, their families and communities and ensure that best practices become the norm across our country.
[Translation]Honourable senators, I urge you to send Bill S-243 to committee as soon as possible for an in-depth study so that we can finally have a national framework for all women. Thank you.