Health

Opening remarks

First of all, hello. Thank you very much for inviting me today. I would like to talk about five different topics. Some of them have already been discussed by the previous speakers. I've been involved with antibiotic resistance and antibiotic issues since 1995, and I was present at the Montreal conference in 1997 when, for the first time in Canada, we started talking about antibiotic resistance. My first message is that antibiotics are essential for human health. Life expectancy in Canada in 1900 was about 40 years old; in 2025, it was around 82 or 83 years old. In 1900, 40% to 50% of newborns did not reach the age of 18. Three things changed this dramatically: hygiene, of course, but mostly antibiotics and vaccines. Without antibiotics, we would not be able to do any major surgery, chemotherapy, dialysis or travel, so antibiotics are really essential for the modern health care system. It's very important that, even though we talk about antibiotic resistance, we shouldn't do antibiotic bashing under the cover of antibiotic resistance. It's extremely important not to scare people about antibiotics when we talk about them but to try to enhance the good perception of antibiotics.…

Opening remarks

Thank you very much, Madam Chair and honourable members. Permit me to offer my condolences on the news that Kirsty Duncan passed away yesterday. She was a huge champion of this file. She was a colleague to many of you in the room and a huge help to those of us working in AMR. I want to speak to you today in my role as an academic researcher. I started my lab at McMaster University over 33 years ago, working in the area of AMR and antibiotic discovery. I have advised industry, government and not-for-profits on antibiotic innovation, and I founded a spin-out company called Symbal Therapeutics in this area. As you heard from Dr. Weiss, antibiotics changed the way we die. Before we had antibiotics, before the discovery of these agents and vaccines, 56% of Canadians died of infectious diseases. We're down to about 3% at this stage. We've also gained over 20 years of life expectancy. This is unprecedented in human history, but we're poised to lose this because of AMR. My role as an academic researcher is to uncover the molecular basis of AMR, to identify potential solutions and to train the next generation of scientists. My lab uses chemistry and biology to study resistance…

Opening remarks

Good afternoon. My name is Makeda Semret. I appreciate the opportunity to address this committee. I lead the antimicrobial stewardship program for a network of McGill-affiliated hospitals in Montreal. I also serve as an associate director for the McGill AMR centre. I'll try not to repeat what has been very eloquently stated by my colleagues and friends around the table. My focus instead will be on antimicrobial stewardship. I will give a bit more granularity in this area, which is close to my heart. Stewardship is how we govern the use of our existing antimicrobials. Effective stewardship ensures that antibiotics are used only when necessary and with the correct agent, dose and duration so that we preserve the effectiveness of our existing drugs, as well as the future pipelines. In hospital settings, as you've heard, we see rising counts of infections caused by such organisms as the carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales, particularly among the at-risk populations we increasingly see in acute-care hospitals—patients with advanced comorbidities, undergoing complex procedures and generally staying in hospital for a prolonged period of time. While infection prevention and control…

Opening remarks

Madam Chair and committee members, thank you for this opportunity. I represent Patients for Patient Safety Canada. We are a not-for-profit, volunteer-driven organization representing those who have experienced harm within our publicly funded health care system. We view AMR, sepsis and health care-associated infections as patient safety issues with physical, psychosocial and cultural manifestations. Patients for Patient Safety Canada is a strong ally in supporting the reduction of AMR infections nationally and globally. We collaborate on research, help to develop national standards and public resources, raise public and professional awareness and participate in policy discussions. We accept 100% of all requests to participate in AMR initiatives. Having the family's permission, I will share an experience that illustrates the profound human tragedy behind the science, as well as the clinical, economic and psychosocial burden of AMR. A healthy 70-year-old sustained a simple foot fracture. Within two days, the person developed severe pain beneath the cast, accompanied by concerning changes in her vital signs and cognition. When the cast was removed, her foot was gravely infected.…