I rise today to recognize May as Asthma Awareness Month and to celebrate the anniversary of Ryan’s Law.

Speaker, eight years ago, my predecessor for Elgin–Middlesex–London, Jeff Yurek, introduced Ryan’s Law as a private member’s bill in this Legislature. This legislation was introduced because of a horrific incident that occurred in my riding on October 9, 2012. Ryan Gibbons passed away while at school after suffering a severe asthma attack. Ryan was unable to access his inhaler due to school policies and procedures which kept his inhaler locked in the principal’s office. Ryan’s Law mandated that students were allowed to access their inhalers and that schools were required to develop and maintain asthma policies and procedures to better protect asthmatic students.

Approximately one in five children are living with asthma in Canada. Asthma is a chronic lung disease that can make breathing difficult. That means that approximately 400,000 students with asthma in Ontario schools are now protected by Ryan’s Law.

I want to thank patient advocates such as Sandra Gibbons, Ryan’s mother, who played an instrumental role in advocating for Ryan’s Law, as well as the Lung Health Foundation for their advocacy, programming and services. We had an excellent meeting earlier this week, and I appreciate their strong advocacy.