News Release

August 30, 2005

Health Canada Announces Over $4 Million in Funding for Quebec Under the Drug Strategy Community Initiatives Fund

QUEBEC CITY - Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh and the Honourable Claude Drouin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister with special emphasis on Rural Communities and Member of Parliament for Beauce, today announced over $4 million for Quebec over the next three years under Canada's Drug Strategy Community Initiatives Fund.

Minister Dosanjh and Mr. Drouin made the funding announcement at an event at the Oeuvres de la Maison Dauphine, one of the groups that will receive funding. The project entitled L'École c'est pas toxique, will receive $119,510 over the next three years to develop substance abuse prevention activities for the counsellors, other staff and the young people assisted by the organization.

"I am very proud that this funding allows groups like the Oeuvres de la Maison Dauphine to design initiatives that promote solutions to substance abuse problems," said Minister Dosanjh. "We must be persistent in our efforts to prevent substance abuse and continue to make the public, especially young people, aware of the dangers associated with drug and alcohol use."

The project is aimed at preventing frequent or regular substance use and progression to more dangerous and addictive narcotics through popular education and increased accountability. The project will also help prevent the harmful physical, psychological and social effects related to drug use by young people and discourage drug-related criminal behaviour.

"Substance abuse can be prevented, particularly through the efforts of the many organizations devoted to the cause," said Mr. Drouin. "Drugs take a heavy toll on society, and the federal government recognizes the outstanding work that these organizations do in the field to help people struggling with substance abuse problems."

In addition to Maison Dauphine's project, a number of other projects in Quebec will receive funding from the federal government, including the following:

• the Option Méthadone project by Dianova Canada Inc. aimed at men and women 18 years of age and older primarily in the Hautes-Laurentides region;
• the Conduire ou utiliser des drogues : il faut choisir project by the Association des intervenants en toxicomanie du Québec, a campaign to raise awareness among young people 16 to 25 years of age throughout Quebec about choosing not to drive after taking drugs;
• the Hier, Aujourd'hui, pour Demain project by the Native Friendship Centre in Quebec City, a prevention and education project for young people and their parents; and
• the Intervention en toxicomanie auprès des jeunes marginalisés de 18 à 30 ans project by Café-Jeunesse de Chicoutimi, which, among other things, will develop tools to counter substance abuse among young marginalized adults 18 to 30 years of age.

Health Canada is supporting the projects under the Drug Strategy Community Initiatives Fund (DSCIF), which funds initiatives in the following major areas: promotion and prevention, and harm reduction. It will achieve its objectives through the provision of financial assistance for initiatives aimed at a sustained reduction in problematic substance use and effective assistance to those at risk from the effects of drugs.

More specifically, the DSCIF has the following objectives:

• to facilitate the development of local, provincial, territorial, national and community-based solutions to problematic substance use; and
• to promote public awareness of problematic substance use.

The announced funding was provided for in previous budgets and is therefore built into the existing financial framework.

The members of La Maison Dauphine offered Mr. Dosanjh a handmade "bas-relief" piece of art, an art technique that is taught at La Maison Dauphine to the Street Artists. This frame was created by Guillaume Paradis, Street Artist at la Maison Dauphine. Left to right: Isabelle St-Pierre, Coordinator of Financial Development, Éric Martin, Building Technician, Honourable Ujjal Dosanjh and Honourable Claude Drouin.

Mr. Dosanjh announces the funding of the project L'École c'est pas toxique at La Maison Dauphine.

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Media Inquiries:
Philippe Décary
Health Canada
(514) 703-9583

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Office of the Minister of Health
(613) 957-0200

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