Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is sad that the work of our caregivers are stretched by the needs of FAS and partial FAS children and adults. FAS is a totally preventable disease. FAS can result in birth defects such as a small brain that does not work well because cells are destroyed or the brain may have holes in it. There may be abnormalities in the middle part of the face with a low-set nose and smaller eyes. FAS children can be born smaller, shorter and skinnier, Mr. Speaker.
The effects on the family can be frustrating, to say the very least. Infants with FAS are very hard to deal with because they are irritable. They cry a lot and they do not sleep through the night putting pressure on the parents and the family.
According to a pediatrician, as FAS children grow older, a 15- or 20-year-old can still be like a seven- or eight-year-old, Mr. Speaker. This presents a challenge in the schools where they really need to change the curriculum to meet their needs and that puts stresses on other children who do not have that problem.
Some can later live as independent adults while others need special needs. Children with FAS can have slow speech, lower IQs and some are mentally deficient. They can also be very hyperactive. Many are labelled as having behavioural problems, Mr. Speaker.
FAS children with birth defects are one to three per 1,000 live births in industrialized countries. Recent studies by Health Canada have suggested that rates of FAS/FAE in some aboriginal communities may be significantly higher. A couple of years ago, it was suggested that more than 30 percent of children in some of our communities in the Northwest Territories have this problem. However, the most specific statistics are not kept in the Northwest Territories on FAS diagnosed children and this is a major problem, Mr. Speaker.
We must put more effort into prevention and stuffing mailboxes is not going to achieve this. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.