Ottawa Invests $10 Million for Health Training in French -Montfort Hospital a Key Partner
OTTAWA, January 6, 1999 -- The Government of Canada today announced it will contribute $10 million over the next five years for clinical education in medicine and the health sciences for the minority Francophone communities in Canada. The announcement was made today by Mauril Bélanger, Parliamentary Secretary for Canadian Heritage, on behalf of Sheila Copps, Minister of Canadian Heritage, in the presence of Marcel Hamelin, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ottawa, and of Michelle de Courville Nicol, Chair of the Board of Administration of Montfort Hospital.The amount of $8,750,000 over the next five years will be used for the establishment and development of the Centre national de formation en santé en français, which will be managed by the University of Ottawa. It will make the health studies programs offered in French by the University of Ottawa and other partners available to the minority Francophone communities. The amount of $1,250,000 over the next five years will be used to support emerging partnerships.
The Federal Government's commitment is a key element in ensuring that Montfort Hospital's role as a French Canadian health training institution is maintained.
This Centre will enable the establishment of a national program to recruit up to 30 medical students over the next five years and up to 60 students in the other health sectors during the same period. As well as an existing partnership with Montfort Hospital, the Centre will enter into co-operative agreements with other hospitals and health centres in the Ottawa-Hull region and with other establishments in Canada.
"One million Francophones live outside of Quebec. It is important to train health professionals in French in order to assure health care services for these people in their own language," said Mr. Bélanger. "In this perspective, Montfort Hospital will continue to play a key role in the training in French of health care professionals."
"In recent years, the University of Ottawa has made it a priority to develop French-language training programs in medicine and the health sciences in order to meet the needs of Ontario's Francophone community," noted Mr. Hamelin. "Through the National Health Training Centre, the University will now be able to contribute to the training of professionals who can provide health care services in French in the various minority Francophone communities in Canada. It will do so in conjunction with other French-language educational institutions in Canada, including the Regroupement des universités de la francophonie hors-Québec and Francophone community colleges involved in career planning in health."
"I am pleased of this major commitment by the Federal Government which will allow Montfort Hospital to maintain its leadership in the field of health care training in French," said Ms. de Courville Nicol. "This is a forward looking initiative for an institution whose main objective is to serve the French-Canadian population."
Information:
Catherine Gagnaire
Communications Assistant
Office of the Minister of
Canadian Heritage
(819) 997-7788
BACKGROUNDER
NATIONAL TRAINING CENTRE
The University of Ottawa has developed a project to set up a National Health-Care Training Centre to help train health-care professionnals in French. This initiative will serve as the basis for a collaborative effort to provide more health-care services in every region of Canada.
--The Training Centre will provide education and clinical training in medicine and the other health-care professions for Canada's minority Francophone communities.
--The National Training Centre is a major project, one that will require the contribution of many partners. The project builds on existing assets, such as the programs and partners already in place and the recognized excellence of the programs in medicine and health sciences at the University of Ottawa and its partners in the Réseau des universités francophones hors-Québec (RUFHQ), including Laurentian University and the Université de Moncton, which also offer programs in science and, in the case of Laurentian, speech therapy. Partnership agreements might also include educational and health-care institutions in Quebec.
--Montfort Hospital is already a partner in clinical health-care training (medicine and other health-care professions) with the University of Ottawa and the health-care institutions in the Ottawa-Carleton region and Eastern Ontario, and the bilingual health-care institutions in Northern Ontario. Potential partners in provinces other than Ontario will include clinical training facilities - hospitals, such as Moncton Hospital and community clinics across Canada. Parterships agreements could also include health-care and teaching institutions.
--The goal of the project is to give the other French-language communities access to the French-language programs offered by the University of Ottawa and its partners in the Réseau national d'enseignement universitaire en français (RUFHQ), through the gradual implementation of a national program to recruit Francophone students in medicine and the other health-care professions within Canada's minority Francophone communities.
--To that end, the University of Ottawa will be contributing its expertise in distance learning, as well as the future Réseau national d'enseignement universitaire en français (a project to bring together the Francophone universities outside Quebec that is already 80% physically implemented in six Canadian provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta (implementation in Alberta in 1999-2000)).
--The issue of health care was raised by the Ministers of Francophone Affairs at the Ministerial Conference in Whitehorse in July 1998, and the Centre is one of the developments under way in this regard. Such a centre would have a significant impact on all the Francophone communities and could mean the beginning of real access to French-language health-care services.
--The federal government is prepared to support the National Training Centre financially through the bilateral agreement on the Official Languages in Education with the Government of Ontario.
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