Good Morning/Bonjour.  Thank you Minister Aglukkaq for inviting me to join you today to highlight these important changes that will help  Canadian children sleep more safely and their parents sleep more soundly. Safe Kids Canada, as a national leader in the prevention of injuries to children, is very pleased that Health Canada is further strengthening the safety requirements for cribs, cradles and bassinets.

We also welcome the announcement that Health Canada will be requesting feedback on additional proposed changes to the Cribs, Cradles and Bassinets Regulations that would, most notably, prohibit the advertisement, sale and importation of traditional drop-side cribs. This is a proposal Safe Kids Canada would like to see implemented.

Parents can tell you that welcoming a new baby into the family is an exciting and overwhelming time. A hundred decisions need to be made, including which crib to choose. These new crib safety regulations mean Canadian parents can be more confident that their babies will sleep safely, especially since most infants spend much of their time in cribs unsupervised. After all, mothers and fathers need to catch a little shut eye too, usually while their children sleep. And as infants grow and gain mobility, the desire to explore and discover is also accompanied by increased risk. Parents will rest easier knowing that even when their children are awake, they are safe in their cribs.

The majority of Canadian parents believe that if a product is available in the marketplace it is but unfortunately this is not always the case. More babies die each year in incidents involving cribs, than from any other nursery product. We know that drop-side cribs that have not been properly installed are particularly dangerous to children and pose risks of suffocation and strangulation. These injuries, as with most others, can be prevented through education, healthy public policy and environmental changes.  

Thank you again for this opportunity to speak on behalf of Canadian parents and their children. By strengthening these regulations, as well as supporting the changes pending in Bill C-36, the Consumer Product Safety Act, the government is taking concrete steps to improve the safety of products that children in Canada use.