Health committee  I'll start, Mr. Malo. First, you're completely right: the distribution or delivery of health care is done by the provinces and territories. For our part, we see the federal government in the role of leader and facilitator in introducing new solutions. Before introducing our two

Health committee  My name is Linda Silas. I'm the president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions and a proud nurse from New Brunswick. We represent nine nurses' unions across the country, and we have excellent working relationships with the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Qué

Health committee  There are a lot of initiatives out there on a healthy workplace. People--employers and unions--are realizing that we have to create a healthy workplace to retain our staff. That's happening. We need more target funding towards that. We need a better evaluation. The partners are w

Health committee  As I said in our last recommendation, we have to consult a lot more than we're doing. This is the first report on the 10-year plan. We need one every year. And it has to start at the level of the bureaucrats, to the advisory committees, and come back to you with all the stakehold

Health committee  With respect to the audit request, the last audit was done in 2002, if my memory serves me right, and a lot of federal dollars are going to the provinces and territories on health care. You have to realize that Health Canada is the sixth-largest health care employer in the countr

Health committee  It's the supply and demand magical question. Everyone has their role. Hospitals are now paying $3,000, $5,000 to nursing students to guarantee them there. Why wouldn't the federal government have a program? You've just established a federal program for police officers. We need to

Health committee  Immigration, all the panels have said, is not the solution. We should be an open country. We're a great country, but we have to be responsible. We're a very rich country, and we should be sustainable in our health human resources and our education programs. What message we are gi

Health committee  The only provinces where real progress is being made are Saskatchewan and Manitoba, where funding really is made available for First Nations people to study to become nursing assistants or nurse practitioners. Funds and programs are in place. There is similar funding for doctors,

Health committee  We do not know. Among the witnesses here, I notice that there is not one representative of a First Nations organization. It is difficult to prepare a presentation for the committee. This is 2008; we have to come up with research, not fancy words. Communities and associations, lik

Health committee  I cannot say that. I can say that it is difficult enough for a large organization like ours to prepare a presentation in the time we had. It is even more difficult for a small organization. My recommendation to the committee would be to conduct a study exclusively on the situati

Health committee  The shortage is in a crisis situation. In 2005-06, a report was given on the HHR pan-Canadian strategy. But we have to realize that CIHI counts a nurse like me and a doctor like Dr. Bennett, and we haven't touched a patient in a while. That doesn't help in the numbers. Just in

Health committee  Bonjour. The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions represents 138,000 nurses in nine provinces, plus 20,000 associate members who are part of the Canadian Nursing Students’ Association. Our members work in hospitals, in long-term care facilities, in communities, and in our homes

Human Resources committee  In health care, there are very few for immigrants per se, but there is a program for aboriginals, the aboriginal workforce participation initiative out of HRSDC, and we need to look at that and expand it. That's another way of giving local employers just that little boost of fund

Human Resources committee  I would just add that I think the solution is quite simple. It's like any employer. You need to create a stable workforce, a stable environment for employment, and we have to have a balanced approach. We're talking to our nurses and other health care workers. You need to start t

Human Resources committee  You're going to be a grandpa too.