Federal government to announce long-awaited funding to replace deteriorating northern Ontario hospital
CBC
The federal government will provide $1.24 billion in new money to replace an aging hospital along northern Ontario's James Bay Coast, according to a senior government source.
Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu is expected to make the announcement in Ottawa on Monday.
The 74-year-old Weeneebayko General Hospital, located on Moose Factory Island, is the oldest unrenovated medical facility in Canada. It was originally built as a tuberculosis sanitorium.
In 2007, Ottawa promised to split the costs with Ontario to build a $2.7-billion new hospital on the mainland in Moosonee, Ont.
Ontario committed $1.3 billion in its budget earlier this year, but Ottawa's portion wasn't included in the last federal budget.
The new hospital is already under construction, backed by $158 million in federal funding announced in 2019.
But Indigenous leaders and the Weeneebayko Area Health Authority, which runs health services in the region, pleaded with Ottawa to deliver on its full pledge or risk seeing construction on the long-delayed project come to a halt indefinitely.
Last month, Hajdu told the House of Commons the hospital would get built, but funding details weren't revealed until now.
"From the beginning, it was clear that we'd be there for First Nations in the region," a senior government source told CBC News. "Promise made, promise kept."
The hospital serves thousands of people, primarily from Indigenous communities, along the western shores of the James Bay Coast.
Because Moose Factory is on an island, patients have to arrive by water taxi or be transported by helicopter to receive care.
The three-storey building only has one bathroom for patients, no elevator and the original wooden roof leaks regularly.
It was built in 1950 originally as a tuberculosis sanatorium, where children were isolated from their communities, cultures and families.
Lynne Innes, CEO of the Weeneebayko Area Health Authority, called the building a symbol of the colonial legacy Indigenous people are forced to confront daily.
Author Suzanne Craig-Whytock has written post-apocalyptic fantasies and dark thrillers to humour for teens and adults and has a number of titles to her name including The Dome, Smile and Feasting Upon the Bones.
They wish they didn't need it, but it's now a necessity.
An ongoing debate in the House of Commons could push some government departments into a cash crunch and run up against other deadlines as the end of the fall sitting approaches.
Celebrity chef Vikram Vij is partnering with a Toronto charity to help raise funds for cash-strapped food banks.
The federal government did not meet the targets for its program to plant two billion trees during the program's third planting season.
Governments in Canada, the U.S. and abroad along with tech giants are all eyeing nuclear power to meet a growing demand for electricity and climate goals at the same time.
Allison McCabe's own story of medical dismissal began last August with a trip to an emergency room in Vancouver.
The leader of Canada's Green Party had some strong words for Nova Scotia's Progressive Conservatives while joining her provincial counterpart on the campaign trail. Elizabeth May was in Halifax Saturday to support the Nova Scotia Green Party in the final days of the provincial election campaign. She criticized PC Leader Tim Houston for calling a snap election this fall after the Tories passed legislation in 2021 that gave Nova Scotia fixed election dates every four years.
Manitoba business owners are gearing up for a temporary federal tax break this holiday season, and while some welcome it, others worry about its timing and the amount of work it will require.
A 36-year-old man has been arrested after allegedly trying to set a fire outside Vancouver City Hall late Friday night, police say.
Calgary city council reversed its decision to close the Inglewood Aquatic Centre Friday.