Canadian youth understand
Romanow Commission
Hearing of May 28, 2002
Ottawa
From a summary of the testimony of Kyla Weinman and Laura Wilson, Grade 8
students at Glashan Middle School:
At the outset, they expressed their support for free, universal health care.
Recently, they saw the movie John Q and were appalled to learn that in the
US, many people do not have the money or medical insurance to pay for the
costs of health care.
They noted that some groups want to change our system to mirror that south
of the border, and claimed that those who want to go in this direction are
not the poor. They asked if we want the nightmare of two-tier medicine to
become a reality in Canada.
As youth in Canada, Weinman and Wilson emphasized that the future of health
care is important since it is their future too; it will benefit their aging
parents and it will benefit them as they grow older. Considering a future as
a health care professional, they noted that if Canada adopts a two-tier
system, it would sway their career choice since they want to provide care
for those who need care, not for those who can jump the queue simply by
paying more. They observed that the message Canada's health care system
sends is that no one is better because they are richer.
In closing, they recalled the words of Tommy Douglas: "I'm telling you that,
unless those of us who believe in Medicare raise our voices in no uncertain
terms, unless we arouse our neighbors and our friends and our communities,
we are sounding the death knell of Medicare in this country - and I, for
one, will not sit idly by and see that happen."
Comment: This testimony is from the y4m (youth for medicare) website. The
opening page is a poster of Canadian youth stating, "We're young. We're not
stupid." The "About Us" page is entitled, "Call to Action for Public
Medicare: Corporate health care sucks!" (They do tend to elect language that
makes their position quite clear.)
It would be great to see a similar movement from our youth in the United
States where our unmet health care needs are much greater than Canada's.
Their website:
http://www.youthformedicare.ca/