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Health Canada Press Release ...

Federal Government Announces Historic Health Care Agreement with Northern Ontario First Nations
August 30, 2007

MOOSONEE - The Honourable Tony Clement, Federal Minister of Health, announced today a new plan to resolve the duplication of health care services and health care gaps for First Nations in the Northern Ontario Weeneebayko region.

Traditionally, federal and provincial governments have both offered health care services to First Nations communities in this James Bay region, resulting in a duplication of health care delivery, health services gaps, and not providing all communities with the quality, timely health care they need and deserve.

The new agreement, which the Federal Government will be signing with the Province of Ontario and communities in the Weeneebayko area, is called the Weeneebayko Area Health Integration Framework Agreement.

"This agreement demonstrates once again our government's commitment to improving health care services for First Nations people,” said Minister Clement. "First Nations in the region will be able to take a greater role in managing health care services in their communities."

Once the agreement is underway, the Federal Government will be investing $12 million per year towards ensuring the new focused and collaborative objectives are achieved. By integrating federal and provincial health services under a community-controlled organization, local residents will see real and positive change in health care delivery focused on community needs.

The new agreement will allow parties to collaborate on a more effective way to deliver health care services, including:

• Agreeing to cost-share certain health care services to create greater economies of scale;
• Amalgamating the federal Weeneebayko General Hospital with the provincial James Bay General Hospital;
• Providing capital funding for new projects;
• Improving primary health services through effective integration with hospital services under the direction of a single provider.

As this agreement evolves over time it will address patient needs, demographics, performance standards and other factors concerning health care in order to provide residents in the Weeneebayko area with an efficient and effective health care system.

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Media Enquiries:
Erik Waddell
Office of the Honourable Tony Clement
Federal Minister of Health
(613) 957-0200

Public Enquiries:
(613) 957-2991
1-866 225-0709

ABORIGINAL TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND SOURCE WATER PROTECTION
FINAL REPORT

August 2007

Prepared by the Chiefs of Ontario
for
Environment Canada

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

As provincial legislation pertaining to water is being proposed and federal strategies are being implemented, First Nations are voicing concern about not only their lack of input in these initiatives, but also the virtual absence of any cultural reference therein. The Chiefs of Ontario, in collaboration with Environment Canada, embarked on a project to capture some of the First Nations’ traditional views on taking care of water, and how this knowledge can fit with current government source water protection plans. This report is an informative compilation of the Elders’ and Traditional Knowledge Holders’ views of the appropriate role of Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge in Source Water Protection. In addition, this report contains some of the concerns and questions regarding the implementation of Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge in Source Water Protection regimes in Ontario raised by policy makers and people responsible for water stewardship. Finally, the report contains some suggestion on the ways in which the challenges of integrating ATK in Source Water Protection can be addressed.

Purpose

First Nations communities have identified the need to include Aboriginal traditional knowledge (ATK) in source water protection planning and environmental planning. Environment Canada and First Nations in Ontario are interested in understanding better the role that ATK will play in Source Water Protection (SWP) in the province at the community and watershed level.

In 2001, the Chiefs of Ontario (COO) commissioned a report, Water Quality in the Province of Ontario: An Aboriginal Knowledge Perspective, which provided an overview of “what water means to Aboriginal people in Ontario” (McGregor and Whitaker, 2001). It presented the traditional perspectives of a small group of selected Elders and Aboriginal knowledge holders from various Aboriginal cultural groups. This report was incorporated into COO’s submission to the Walkerton Inquiry (Kamanga, 2001). The submission overall emphasized that including ATK in Ontario’s decision making on source water protection is imperative.

Click here to download the entire report (PDF - 142Kb)