Dear editor,
During the past weeks many of you have had the opportunity to view the wonderful Textile Art Exhibition created by quilters and artists in the Comox Valley to raise funds for the Stephen Lewis Foundation.
Concurrently, grandmothers across Canada have been lobbying the federal government to fix the broken Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR) through Bill C-393. This bill is now before Parliament and heading to a vote on March 9.
If our MPs choose to support this bill they have a real chance of combating the AIDS pandemic by getting affordable generic life-saving drugs to Africa.
We know from our discussions with the 240 grandmothers groups across Canada supporting the work of the Stephen Lewis Foundation that Canadians also support Bill-C393.
We have heard that the government, and in particular Prime Minister Harper, is committed to maternal and child health: but without access to medicines how can lives are saved? It’s medicine that saves lives, not rhetoric!
Please hold our politicians to their promises — Canadians want Bill C-393 passed and CAMR reformed. Please support us by letting your MP know you are one of those Canadians that support this Bill. Thank you so much!
Maggie O’Sullivan,
Campbell River
Editor’s note: Maggie O’Sullivan is the regional cluster leader for Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands of the National Advocacy Committee of the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign.