Gov't announces funding for First Nations initiative

Improvements can now be made to public health services on reserves thanks to an investment of $3.7 million from the Government of Canada. This announcement came from Tony Clement, minister of health and minister for the federal economic development initiative for Northern Ontario on Jan. 10. The Ontario First Nations Public Health Initiative is a three-year project to ensure that on-reserve health systems will be better integrated with improved co-ordination of health systems. The initiative will also establish a new information system, which will be used in First Nations communities for sharing on-reserve patient information with provincial public health units. First Nation communities will also be informed about communicable diseases from health professionals.