Sioux Lookout Hospital Pieces in Place

Kenora MP Roger Valley announced Tuesday in Sioux Lookout that the federal government will invest $37.4 million in the development of the Meno-Ya-Win Health Centre.

Speaking on behalf of federal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh, Valley said the funding "is just one step in the process." With it, he said the federal government "remains true to its commitment" under a four-party agreement signed in April 1997.

The federal commitment represents 44 per cent of the capital cost of the $84-million hospital which will replace the aging Zone and Sioux Lookout General hospitals. The province is paying half the cost, including $6.5 million for planning and design of the new facility, with the remainder picked up locally.

Hospital board chairman Ennis Fiddler told about 150 people gathered for Tuesday's announcement that "the funding is another milestone toward completion of the facility."

Minister of State (Public Health) Carolyn Bennett called the new hospital "a momentous occasion.”

“This health centre will be a model for the future," she said.

"It's a very exciting time," said Nish-nawbe-Aski Grand Chief Stan Beardy.

The people of Nishnawbe Aski welcome the money for the health facility, but, he said, "the greatest need is for both levels of government to play an on-going role in delivering quality health care to First Nation community members from the far North."

Health Canada has said it plans to reinvest the money it saves from the amalgamated hospital - more than $3 million a year - back into community-based health programs in the North.

The 63-bed health centre will be Canada's first health facility designed to blend modern medicine with traditional aboriginal healing methods. It will serve Sioux Lookout's population of 5,400, 1,300 of whom are aboriginal, as well as residents of more than two dozen communities north of Sioux Lookout.

The staff and departments of the two hospitals were combined under the authority of the new hospital organization more than two years ago. Health service delivery continues at the two hospital sites until the new facility is built.

Meanwhile, inflation has played a part in the increasing costs of the facility. When the initial commitment to build a hospital came in the 1997 between Nishnawbe-Aski Nation, Ottawa, Ontario and the Town of Sioux Lookout, capital costs were estimated at $30 million: $15 million was to come from the province; $13.2 million from the federal government; and $1.8 million from the district.

Since then, planning, design and merging of departments and administration, as well as dealing with property matters, have been ongoing.

Construction of the health centre is to begin in the spring, with completion slated for 2009.

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