Former diabetes educator and now Member of Parliament establishes Canada-wide consultation on diabetes

Ottawa, ON – Sonia Sidhu, MP for Brampton South, has announced that she will be leading a Canada-Wide consultation on diabetes as part of her leadership of the Parliamentary All-Party Diabetes Caucus. The Liberal Party champion for diabetes made the announcement at the last meeting of the caucus, on Monday, May 29.

The Caucus is a multi-partisan group of federal parliamentarians supporting them enhancement of existing policies, developing new ideas and solutions on behalf of the 11 million Canadians living with diabetes or pre-diabetes. Its mandate is to analyze and provide recommendations to advance and advocate for diabetes related federal public policies.

“I will undertake a Canada-wide consultation to understand access to diabetes care, the prevalence of diabetes in different parts of the country, and to hear directly from Canadians about what they feel needs to be done,” MP Sidhu said. “Together, I believe we will defeat diabetes.”

At the meeting, Parliamentarians heard from representative from Sobeys and Loblaws, and from Dr. Tushar Mehta, who spoke about the impact that plant-based diets can have on preventing and reducing the impact of diabetes. Attendees at the meeting include Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health, Joel Lightbound, caucus co-chair Dean Allison, and many MPs from all political parties.

Earlier this year, MP Sidhu joined David McGuinty, MP for Ottawa South, on behalf of the Honourable Jane Philpott, Minister of Health, in announcing federal funding for diabetes research. The Government of Canada, through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), announced that it plans to partner with JDRF to support clinical trials research for type 1 diabetes. Both CIHR and JDRF have each committed $15M to the Partnership to Defeat Diabetes, for a total investment of $30M.