Mental health panel aims to stamp out discrimination

August 31, 2007 - The federal government officially launched the new Canadian Mental Health Commission on Friday in a bid to erase the social stigmas that prevent many from getting the medical treatment they need. Read More>>

Inuit leader tackles mental-health 'crisis'

August 31, 2007 - At 60, the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Canada's national Inuit organization, is taking on a new challenge, travelling the country as part of a federal commission seeking ways to improve mental-illness services. Read More>>

Homeless hospitalized more often for mental illness: study

August 31, 2007 - Homeless people in Canada have more mental health problems than the rest of the population, leading to higher hospitalization rates, says a new report released Thursday. Read More>>

Quebec pledges millions to fight child abuse

KUUJJUAQ, QC, August 31, 2007 - In an all-out effort to save Nunavik's children from abuse and neglect, Quebec will pump an additional $5.5 million each year into Nunavik's health and social services department, along with $31 million to build new staff housing for social service workers. Read More>>

A book to inspire future non-smokers

August 31, 2007 - From now until the end of September, the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services wants to hear how you quit smoking. Read More>>

Canada's New Government Announces Historic Health Care Agreement with Northern Ontario First Nations

MOOSONEE, ON, August 30, 2007 - 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. Read More>>

Hockey gear brings hope to First Nations kids

OSHAWA, ON, August 30, 2007 - It may look like bags of skates and jerseys, but to Grand Chief Stan Beardy, the hockey equipment overflowing from Oshawa MPP Jerry Ouellette's office is a lifesaver. Read More>>

Cultural exchange: Maori elders visit Sudbury

August 28, 2007 - A group of four New Zealanders visited Greater Sudbury Monday and Tuesday of this week as they make their way to an international conference on mental health issues in Ottawa. Read More>>

Saugeen Nation wants $1 billion over spraying

The chief of the Saugeen Nation north of Ignace is not happy with herbicide spraying in area forests and plans to seek $1 billion in compensation from senior levels of government. Read More>>

Survivors of Indian schools share stories to assist healing

MONCTON, N.B., August 28, 2007 - Chief Terry Paul’s voice quavers with emotion as he describes the abuse he suffered as a young boy, stripped of his freedom and his culture at one of Canada’s former Indian residential schools. Read More>>

Canada's New Government Announces $1 million to support Aboriginal Nursing Program at the University of Lethbridge

STANDOFF, AB, August 28, 2007 – Today, Rick Casson, Member of Parliament for Lethbridge, on behalf of Federal Minister of Health, the Honourable Tony Clement, announced $1 million over three years under the Aboriginal Health Human Resources Initiative to help increase the number of Aboriginal nurses working in Canada's health care system, particularly in First Nations communities. Read More>>

Gestational diabetes linked to kids' obesity

August, 28 2007 - Treating women who develop diabetes during pregnancy greatly reduces the chances that their baby will become obese during childhood, reports a study in Diabetes Care. Read More>>

Midwives go high-tech

IQALUIT, August 27, 2007 - The Ajunnginiq Centre launched a trilingual midwifery website last week, which supporters say will help strengthen the ties among midwives throughout the Inuit regions. Read More>>

Addicts now have a place they can call home

REGINA, SK, August 27, 2007 - Addicts struggling to overcome their addictions will have one less worry this fall -- they will have a place they can call home. Read More>>

Cancer fight gets a boost

August 25, 2007 - Cancer researchers at the University of Manitoba have landed some major funding from the federal government under a program intended to award funds to the best of the best. Read More>>

Oneida gains long-term care

August 24, 2007 - Health Minister George Smitherman announced hundreds of new long-term care home beds for the London area yesterday, including a new 64-bed home at the Oneida Nation of the Thames. Read More>>

Scientists seek key to mercury mystery

RESOLUTE BAY, August 24, 2007 - Arctic char in Resolute Lake contain amounts of methyl-mercury that exceed what Health Canada considers safe to eat regularly. Read More>>

Quebec to spend more than $170 million in north

August 24, 2007 - Quebec will spend $36.4 million to protect children from abuse and violence in northern Inuit communities, Health Minister Philippe Couillard announced Friday. Read More>>

Forum focuses on bringing training home

KENORA, ON, August 24, 2007 - Issues reflecting an evolving landscape dominated Thursday’s regional health forum between health and education administrators. Read More>>

TB outbreak has community on edge; each case 'connected through social networks'

PORT ALBERNI, August 24, 2007 - When Dolly McRae sees someone spit on the ground, she worries. Read More>>

Hundreds of Metis Citizens Set to Gather for Major Health Announcement in Kelowna

VANCOUVER, B.C., August 23, 2007 - The Metis Nation British Columbia (MNBC) will announce at its 10th AGM in Kelowna that it has received funding for the Aboriginal ActNow BC strategy, a partnership-based, community-focused cross-ministry health promotion initiative designed to address chronic disease and injury risk factors in the Aboriginal community. Read More>>

Nunavik children's welfare to top Kuujjuaq conference agenda

August 23, 2007 - The well-being of Inuit children in Nunavik is expected to be among the top issues at a major conference starting Thursday in Kuujjuaq, Que. Read More>>

Major toothaches for Labrador communtities

August 23, 2007 - An isolated Labrador community has been without a dentist for three years, and people who live there say they're struggling to get dental care outside the town. Read More>>

Three day youth conference focuses on culture, health

August 22, 2007 - Contributing to a week chock full of positive youth development, the Gitmaxmak’ay Nisga’a Society partnered with the Aboriginal Health Initiative Program and the Nisga’a Youth Society to host a three day conference around the issues of culture and health in our community. Read More>>

Plans lack direction: expert

August 22, 2007 - The federal government has set a new goal for reducing smoking rates, but the target is optimistic at best, according to experts in Saskatchewan. Read More>>

Researchers find hepatitis B clues in old northern blood

August 20, 2007 - A Canadian research scientist is using frozen blood samples, taken two decades ago from thousands of people across the North, in hopes of revealing new clues about hepatitis B. Read More>>

New Study Looks at the Potential Health Impacts of Residential School Lump Sum Payments

OTTAWA, August 20, 2007 – The Aboriginal Healing Foundation’s latest research study, released today, has been prepared in anticipation of the imminent arrival of the $1.9 billion Common Experience Payments, a central component of Canada’s Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement. Read More>>

Nursing program needs teachers

August 18, 2007 - The local nurse shortage isn’t because nobody wants to work — it’s because nobody wants to teach. Read More>>

First Nation prepares for pandemic

August 17, 2007 - A Sturgeon Lake First Nation think tank is figuring out how to take care of its own people if a pandemic hits. Read More>>

A wave of support; March fights violence against aboriginal women

August 17, 2007 - The antidote for a violent epidemic rolled into the city Thursday as a wave of hope concluded its 265-kilometre journey at the North Bay Indian Friendship Centre. Read More>>

Health survey ship sparks lots of curiosity

NUNAVUT, August 17, 2007 - People ask a lot of questions when they hear a boat full of doctors and nurses is visiting their community. Read More>>

Booze brings wave of violence in Nunavik

August 17, 2007- This summer, the free flow of booze has wreaked havoc in the Hudson Bay communities of Nunavik, leading to stabbings, shootings, vandalism and accidents. Read More>>

Community leaders charged with bringing liquor to troubled First Nation

August 16, 2007 - A former chief and an addiction worker are facing liquor offences and a band councillor was convicted in May of a similar charge on the troubled Pauingassi First Nation, which made national headlines last week when a six-year-old boy was reportedly bullied to death. Read More>>

Rankin Inlet health centre scrambles to find doctor

August 16, 2007 - Rankin Inlet's regional health centre is facing a 'scary' predicament, the mayor of the Nunavut hamlet said Thursday. Read More>>

Whistleblower MD returns to Fort Chipewyan

August 16, 2007 - The doctor who blew the whistle on what he says are high cancer rates in Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, visited the oilsands hamlet this week with a promise he would continue to fight for a health study in the community. Read More>>

Mercury levels rising in some Nunavut lakes, scientists find

August 16, 2007 - Rising levels of mercury are showing up in lakes around Resolute Bay in Nunavut's High Arctic, federal researchers say. Read More>>

Sue for fair medical treatment, CMA editorial tells First Nations

August 16, 2007 - First Nation governments should sue to receive fair medical treatment, said an editorial published Tuesday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Read More>>

Sick boy lacks full treatment, as governments debate who pays

August 15, 2007 - An aboriginal boy whose rare genetic disorder sparked a national debate two years ago over which government should pay for his drugs is still not receiving the full treatment for his illness. Read More>>

$22m plan aims to make one million healthier in B.C.

August 15, 2007 - Right now in British Columbia, only about half the population is considered at a healthy body weight, 20 per cent are smokers, 40 per cent are physically inactive and most -- 60 per cent -- don't eat the recommended daily serving of fruits and vegetables. Read More>>

Aboriginal physician travels world to study shamans, healers for new TV series

EDMONTON, August 14, 2007 - Sick with the flu, Dr. Daniele Behn Smith felt a ripple of fear as she stood on the outskirts of a tribal trance dance in Namibia and waited for a whirling, zombie-like medicine man to touch her chest. Read More>>

Fort Chip rally draws attention to water quality

August 14, 2007 - Organizers of an environmental rally in a remote northern Alberta community hope to draw international attention to the effects of oilsands development on drinking water. Read More>>

Governments failing native children, report says

August 14, 2007 - Hundreds of aboriginal children with severe medical problems are being reluctantly surrendered to welfare authorities and moved to institutions in big cities because federal and provincial health authorities cannot agree on who should pay to care for them in their home communities. Read More>>

Governments bickered while native toddler died, journal says

August 13, 2007 - A native child from northern Manitoba spent two years unnecessarily in a Winnipeg hospital where he died 500 kilometres from his family because of "warring bureaucrats," says a scathing editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Read More>>

Squabbling over who pays medical bills threatens First Nations kids: journal

TORONTO, August 13, 2007 - The Canadian Medical Association Journal is adding its voice to the chorus calling for federal, provincial and territorial governments to stop squabbling over who pays the bills when it comes to the medical needs of sick First Nations children. Read More>>

First Celebration Of Health, Small But Successful

UCLUELET, BC, August 13, 2007 - The First Annual Yu-cluth-aht Holistic Celebration of Health was a successful event that is expected to grow in the following years, says the event organizer. Read More>>

Que. Inuit community aims to run own government

August 13, 2007 - Quebec's large Inuit community living in the northern region of Nunavik will soon have greater autonomy, according to a new agreement-in-principle the community has made with the province and Ottawa. Read More>>

Walk highlights violence against aboriginal women

August 11, 2007 - The need to end violence against native women will be highlighted this week during a 265-kilometre walk ending at the North Bay Indian Friendship Centre Wednesday evening. Read More>>

120 in Nunavut may have rare virus

August 10, 2007 - An extremely rare sexually transmitted virus may affect more than 120 Nunavummiut, a health study has found. Read More>>

Workshops, music battle suicide

August 10, 2007 - As suicides continue to plague the area on the south-east shore of Lake of the Woods,, between 500 and 1,000 music fans were expected at scenic Assabaska Park near Morson, in an effort to shift the tide in aboriginal communities. Read More>>

Town pitches in after health centre fire

August 10, 2007 - Shortly after fire closed the Kitikmeot Health Centre Aug. 1, residents of Cambridge Bay helped lug stretchers, intravenous drips, electrocardiogram units and everything else needed to provide emergency care into the nearby community hall. Read More>>

Nunavik elders, officials to ­discuss child abuse and neglect

August 10, 2007 - Next week, about 25 Nunavik elders and officials from the region's organizations will meet for two days at the site of Old Chimo near Kuujjuaq to discuss social issues, including how to improve the lot of children and youth in the region. Read More>>

Youths learn from others' experiences; HIV-AIDS conference gives young people forum for discussion

August 10, 2007 - Katie Larivierre wants to help the youths of her community learn survival skills - but not the ones that keep a person alive in the bush or on the lake. Read More>>

Probe set for plan to give braces to aboriginal children

August 09, 2007 - Health Canada has commissioned a study of its multi-million-dollar orthodontics program for Aboriginal children, as some experts question whether installing braces should be a government priority in a population afflicted by a litany of other health and dental problems. Read More>>

Ghiz wants co-ordinator for native programs

MONCTON, NB, August 09, 2007 - Premier Robert Ghiz is promising to honour a commitment by the previous Tory administration to establish an aboriginal co-ordinator in Prince Edward Island. Read More>>

Mohawks have fitness in their future

August 08, 2007 - By late 2008, they hope to break ground on a sports complex that could include lacrosse facilities and two existing ball diamonds. Read More>>

Sault leads the e-health way

August 09, 2007 - With health care lagging behind other industries in reaping the benefits of information technology (IT), the Ontario government has launched a series of e-health programs with the goal of "integrating multiple sectors of the provincial health care system into a fully modern health care system." Read More>>

Broadview committee seeking results from NDP

August 09, 2007 - For the past 21/2 years the community and neighbouring First Nations and municipalities have been lobbying the Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region and the province for the establishment of a dialysis clinic in Broadview. Read More>>

Premiers promise to play more active role in helping native communities

MONCTON, N.B., August 8, 2007 - Canada's premiers say they are staking out a greater role on aboriginal affairs now that the federal government has abandoned the $5 billion Kelowna accord to assist First Nations communities. Read More>>

Major Inuit health survey drops anchor in Nunavut

August 8, 2007 - The largest Inuit health survey ever conducted in Canada has begun in southern Hudson Bay, with doctors and other medical staff travelling across Nunavut aboard an Arctic icebreaker to test and chat with Inuit about their well-being. Read More>>

Upcoming Celebration Of Health

August 8, 2007 - The first annual Yu-cluth-aht Holistic Celebration of Health will be taking place in Ucluelet this weekend. Read More>>

Health care key topic at nurses' conference in Moncton

MONCTON, NB, Aug 7, 2007 - Nurses and health stakeholders fromacross the country will convene in Moncton, New Brunswick, tomorrow (August 8)to attend a conference on health care hosted by the Canadian Federation ofNurses Unions (CFNU). Read More>>

Rare blood virus found in almost 4 in 1,000 in Nunavut

Aug 7, 2007 - Almost four in every 1,000 people in Nunavut may have a rare, incurable yet preventable virus called HTLV-1, a research report prepared for the Nunavut government has found. Read More>>

Doctors, judges, lawyers agree more needs to be done about fetal alcohol exposure

REGINA, Aug 1, 2007 - They do what they can to help people suffering from the effects of being exposed to alcohol before they were born, but doctors, teachers, judges and lawyers all agree on one thing - the task is huge and the resources are scarce for a disorder perceived as being a problem of the poor. Read More>>

Inuit group calls for northern expertise on truth commission

July 30, 2007 - The organization representing Canada's Inuit hopes the federal government's truth and reconciliation commission, set up to hear from former residential school students, will include someone familiar with Inuit and northern issues. Read More>>

Homeseekers out in cold in Nunavut

July 29, 2007 - The housing situation is desperate in Nunavut, which means "our land" in Inuktitut. According to a recent Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation report, the vacancy rate is virtually zero. Read More>>

Coroner investigates drownings at 'healing camp'

July 28, 2007 - The chief coroner of the Northwest Territories is investigating the drownings of two youths who were left without adult supervision at a "healing camp" on an island in Great Slave Lake where they were taken for community service. Read More>>

Aboriginal garden grows more than just vegetables

July 27, 2007 - If it weren't for a garden in a field of green at UBC, Peggy August says she'd probably be at home "rotting in front of a TV." Read More>>