News Release
1999-147
December 23, 1999
Community Liaison Committee membership announced
WINNIPEG – Health Minister Allan Rock, Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Lyle Vanclief, and Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy today announced the establishment of a Community Liaison Committee, to help ensure full and open communication with the community in Winnipeg related to the 
Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health.
"Safety continues to be the driving force of this state-of-the-art facility, which is recognized internationally as the most advanced of its kind in the world," said Minister Rock. "This committee will help promote better public understanding of the Science Centre and provide an ongoing forum for public input."
"We welcome and encourage input and look forward to valuable and meaningful discussion, as we work towards the Centre reaching its full potential in the protection of public and animal health, " Mr. Vanclief said.
"The Committee will be an important vehicle for two-way sharing of information between one of the world's foremost virology laboratories and the community," said Minister Axworthy. "The input and advice from a cross-section of neighbourhood residents, scientists, health care and agricultural professionals, and other community groups will ensure that the interests of the people of Winnipeg are well represented."
Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to safety of employees, the community, and the environment as the foremost priority. The state-of-the-art facility, which includes laboratories of Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, provides important diagnostic and research functions for human and animal diseases, needed to preserve public health and to ensure disease-free status for livestock and food products being traded internationally.
The Centre features Canada's first and only level 4 facility, one of an exclusive number of these laboratories in the world. Although the level 4 areas at the Centre will represent a small percentage of the work done at the facility, they are urgently required for Canadian scientists to work with serious new and emerging diseases. The level 4 laboratories at the Centre have been extensively tested and certified for safe operation, although they have not yet been opened for research. Program officials will work with the Community Liaison Committee to answer public questions and concerns about these and other programs at the Centre.
The Committee will hold its inaugural meeting in January.
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Media inquiries
Morgan Fontaine
Health Canada
(204) 983-2508
Sherri Cherwinski
Canadian Science Centre for Human & Animal Health
(204) 789-2016
Public inquiries
(613) 957-2991
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