Thank you, Madam Speaker. I, too, would like to make a few comments on white cane week and a bit of a background on CNIB.

The first white cane week grew out of the experiences of a small group of blind people who had discovered that the public generally did not understand the meaning of the white cane as a symbol of blindness. In 1946, the Canadian Council of the Blind developed a national education program to tell Canadians that the white cane means the carrier has a serious visual problem. The CCB later invited the Canadian National Institute for the Blind to get involved, and the two organizations became co-sponsors of white cane week.

Since then, white cane week has become a national network of special events, hands-on demonstrations, open houses, tours, speakers and activities throughout more than 60 CNIB centres and 95 clubs from coast to coast, including the Northwest Territories.

Madam Speaker, I know a good number of the people who are taking care of the information booths that are in many of the communities. My son is included in that, and they are to be saluted. Over the years the program of White Cane Week has involved to reflect the changing situation of blind and visually impaired people. In the early years, the week was used to demonstrate the concerns for rehabilitation, blindness prevention and advocacy. In more recent years, events have begun to emphasize the capabilities of the blind and the visually impaired people, themselves. The aim was to draw blind and sighted people closer together in order that they may be able to support one another. I quote, "In this decade and into the next century, we are going to have to develop a healthy attitude about blindness and visual impairment."

I think that people like myself have to be made comfortable in the recognition that there is nothing wrong with this human condition. It is respectable to be blind. It is okay to have poor or failing vision in our society." This is a quote from Dr. Euclid Herie, who is the CNIB president.