Good afternoon.

My name is Tim Fleiszer. I'm a retired athlete who played professional football in the Canadian Football League for 10 seasons. I also played soccer, hockey and rugby in my youth. My three young boys play soccer and hockey.

Today, I'm here as the founder and executive director of Concussion Legacy Foundation Canada.

Along with our sister organizations in the U.S., the U.K. and Australia, we are the leading global charity dedicated to brain injury for youth, military personnel, veterans and athletes.

As a football player at Harvard and during my time in the CFL, I witnessed many of my teammates suffer multiple brain injuries. Tragically, this has led to several of them struggling with severe mental health issues. Some have even taken their own lives. Far too many of these athletes were diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, after they passed.

CTE is the only neurodegenerative disease that is completely preventable. Our mission at the Concussion Legacy Foundation is to eliminate CTE by preventing repeated hits to the head, whether on the job, in combat or while playing the sports we love. Prevention and education are at the heart of what we do, and we are committed to raising awareness around this issue every single day.

I will devote the rest of my remarks to the subject at hand today, Bill C-277.

The CLFC supports Bill C-277 in its current form as a first step to significantly reduce incidents of concussion and related brain injuries in Canada. This legislation has the potential to protect young athletes, promote safer sports environments and contribute to the long-term health and well-being of future generations.

This includes improving return-to-play guidelines and raising awareness among coaches, educators, clinicians and all Canadians.

We believe in this initiative because we want to see our kids participate in sports without the risk of severe, life-altering brain injuries. We want to help our Canadian Armed Forces servicewomen and servicemen, who put their lives on the line to protect ours, return home to their loved ones with the health and dignity they deserve. We want to ensure that those suffering the effects from multiple head impacts have access to the best possible treatments.

CLFC is proud to partner with research groups such as the brain health imaging centre at CAMH. Dr. Neil Vasdev and his team are performing cutting-edge, “first in human” trials to diagnose CTE in living patients. I was honoured to be the very first scan for this groundbreaking study. Our partners at the Canadian Concussion Centre are performing autopsies to determine the prevalence of CTE in Canadians. This research contributes to our global brain bank, alongside that of experts in Boston, Oxford, Auckland, São Paulo and Sydney.

CTE is preventable. With the right strategies in place, we can ensure that our children, athletes and military personnel avoid the devastating consequences of repeated brain injuries.

Mr. Chair and all members of the House, I would be remiss if I didn't take a moment to thank you for your unanimous support of this critical bill. Like all of you, CLFC strongly supports Bill C-277, a pivotal piece of legislation that has the potential to enhance concussion safety through the implementation of a national strategy for brain injury prevention.

Following the swift passage of this bill, CLFC offers the following recommendations to the Minister of Health for inclusion in a national strategy to support and improve brain injury awareness, prevention and treatment.

One, implement age-specific regulations to prevent brain injuries in youth sports.

Two, mandate brain injury education and awareness.

Three, establish an advisory panel on neurodegenerative brain injury treatment and prevention.

Four, monitor and evaluate policies using evidence-based methods.

Five, implement the recommendations from this committee's 2019 report, “Tackling the Problem Head-on: Sports-Related Concussions in Canada”.

We can make this national strategy a reality and have Canada lead the world in preventing, studying and treating brain injuries.

Thank you.