Hon. Danièle Henkel: Senator Gold, to this day, women’s health continues to be sorely neglected in our public policy. From 2009 to 2020, a mere 5.7% of the funds awarded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, or CIHR, went to research projects on women’s health issues, and even these often focused on cancer. Issues like endometriosis or mental health receive barely 3.8% of CIHR funding. As a result, women are diagnosed on average two years later than men across more than 1,300 common conditions. Endometriosis alone takes more than five years to diagnose. Furthermore, women spend 25% more of their lives in poor health. In eight provinces and territories, gynecological surgeries are reimbursed 28% less often than comparable procedures for men. If you’d like to have the sources for these data, I’d be pleased to provide them.

Is the government prepared to —

The Hon. the Speaker: Senator Henkel, I have to ask Senator Gold whether he has a response or comment for you.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for highlighting the challenges facing Canadian women and the gaps they must overcome. This is not surprising, but that doesn’t make it acceptable either in a society like ours.

If I can read between the lines, the government is going to seriously address this issue, but it will do so primarily in partnership with the provinces and territories, since it is their constitutional responsibility. The Government of Canada certainly has a role to play in that regard, and it will do so, given the importance of the issue.

Senator Henkel: In any potential future strategy, will the government commit to fixing the funding gaps, requiring the systematic disaggregation of data by sex in research, and including women in clinical trials in an equitable manner, so that treatments can finally be designed for women rather than simply adapted after the fact?

Senator Gold: Thank you for the question and thank you for highlighting the importance of data disaggregation. Some work has already begun in that area following several interventions by various senators. That work must and will continue.