Elizabeth May has worked tirelessly to ensure the passage of the Federal Framework on Lyme Disease Act. We are indebted to her! She and many, many MPs recognized the need for this law due to the spread and threat of Lyme disease in Canada. The fact that the law was supported unanimously in both the House of Commons and the Senate shows how hard all Lyme activists worked to educate their local representatives by sharing their stories, circulating petitions, writing to newspapers, emailing their MPs, and the list goes on. Anyone who has done even the smallest thing can claim a part of this great victory!
Now that said, I am not so naive to think that things are going to change overnight. Lyme treatment is divisive in the medical community. Canadian infectious disease doctors, for example, are opposed to some of the wording in this law and still wish to adhere to the flawed IDSA (Infectious Diseases Society of America) standards of treatment. Although they will be in the minority when everyone gathers at the table, they still pose a threat with the roadblocks they will put up. I do believe that the process of creating a strategy for dealing with Lyme in Canada will be a slow one and a bit of a battle. It may be several years before Lyme patients will really benefit from this law.
This notwithstanding, some hope has now been injected into a situation that was, up until now, pretty hopeless. For the time being, we may still have to seek help from U.S. physicians and pay for treatment out-of-pocket, but at least there is a light at the end of this long tunnel.
Thank you, Elizabeth May!
If you want to watch the second reading of the bill in the Senate, click here. It's very interesting!
