1 Quebec AM with Tim Belford visited and broadcasted live from Rouyn-Noranda on February 24, 2006! What a wonderful event! What a great turnout! How important can a radio show be? Judg- ing by the welcome host Tim Belford re- ceived when he visited us, it would seem that Quebec A.M. is an in- dispensable part of the morning for many English-speaking Que- becers, including Rouyn-Noranda. Over 75 people in total turned out to meet the team and witness a live radio show. Tim Belford and his team (Nick Gamache, Suzanne Campbell and Karl Vincent) high- lighted local English speaking people over the 3 hour period. Some interesting inter- views were done with Mr & Mrs Marion, Shannon Lacroix – President of the Stu- dent Council of No- randa School, the Charchuk brothers – co-owners of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, Mitch Lariviere – Chairperson Neighbours, and Gina Kingsbury – Olympic Gold Medalist, just to name a few! Taped interviews included different classes and students from Noranda School and Anria Hamel from our local CEDEC, these interviews will be run- ning throughout the coming weeks. A warm atmos- phere prevailed in the room. A light breakfast was provided. Quiz’s on Rouyn-Noranda were done by Nick – congrats to our win- ners Emily Crepeau and Bri Martin for knowing that the word Noranda comes from North Canada and that Mike Ribeiro and Pierre Dagenais both played for the Huskies and are now part of the Montreal Canadiens Hockey Team! Neighbours is pleased to have been able to provide the local English Commu- nity with this experi- ence and would like to thank eve- ryone for partici- pated in such great numbers! CBC in Rouyn-Noranda Editor’s Notes: This edition is full of fun items and pictures! Happy Reading! For comments and suggestions please contact the newsletter committee through our office 762-0882 Chair Report & CC Report 2 Health Committee Report 3 A child’s pride in her country—Writing Contest 4 In Pictures 4-5 Health Day 6 Health Care 8—9 News 10—11 Inside this issue: Neighbours Newsletter NEIGHBOURS REGIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ROUYN-NORANDA Volume 3, Issue 3 March 2006
Saturday March 11 10:00 am – 12:00 pm Internet search / Virus protection
Saturday March 11 1:30 – 4:00 Email / Caring for your computer (managing files, clean-
ing up hard drive, back up etc.)
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By: Naomi Klein
* this book has been recom-
mended by COCo; one of
our organizational partners
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Does private health care exist in Canada today?
It’s a crucial part of the system. Canada spent approximately $130 billion on health care in 2004. Of that, just over $90 billion was spent by governments delivering public health care. Almost $40 billion was spent on private health care.
What is public health care?
Depending on who you ask, it’s either what de-fines Canada – or it’s the greatest impediment to ensuring that Canadians get quick access to the kind of medical services they deserve. In reality, it’s probably something in between. Public health care is gov-erned by the Canada Health Act. It’s de-signed to make sure that all eligible people in the country have reasonable access to in-sured health services on a prepaid basis, without direct charges at the point of service. The act is also designed to make sure that the delivery of health care is pretty consis-tent across the country. Ottawa has found that the best way to do that is by attaching conditions to the cash it transfers to the prov-inces to cover health care. Among those conditions are that health care must be:
Portable.
Universal.
Accessible.
Free from extra charges (for insured ser-vices).
By portable, Ottawa means if you move from one province or territory to an-other, you won’t lose your coverage. This doesn’t mean you can go looking for health services in another province or country be-
cause the waiting list at home is too long for your lik-ing. It does, however, mean that your out-of-province in-laws will be covered if they suddenly fall sick while on their annual visit. Under the universality criterion, all insured resi-dents of a province or terri-tory must be entitled to the
insured health services provided by the pro-vincial or territorial health care insurance plan. Doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor. You can’t buy your way to the front of the line. By accessible, the CHA means “insured persons in a province or territory have reasonable access to insured hospital, medical and surgical-dental services on uni-form terms and conditions, unprecluded or unimpeded, either directly or indirectly, by charges [user charges or extra-billing] or other means [e.g., discrimination on the ba-sis of age, health status or financial circum-stances].”
Public vs. private health care
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V OLU ME 3 , IS SU E 3 Page 9
What is private health care? Anything beyond what the public system will pay for. For instance, should you have to spend some time in the hospital, the public system will cover the cost of your bed in a ward, which usually has three other patients. If you want a private room, the ex-tra charge will come out of your pocket, unless you have extended health cover-age either through your em-ployer or through a policy you have bought yourself. Need an ambulance ride? Expect to receive a bill. If you have extended health care coverage, your insur-ance company will likely pick up the tab. Dr. Albert Schumacher, president of the Canadian Medical As-sociation estimates that 75 per cent of health-care ser-vices are delivered pri-vately, but funded publicly.
Other forms of private health care
There are a few pri-vately-run hospitals in the country, whose services
may or may not be cov-ered by health in-surance. Shouldice Hospital in Toronto
opened in 1945 – before Ca-nadians were covered by universal health care. The hospital remains private to-day. Several privately-run clinics have opened across the country as well, offering CT scans and MRI services. Most have contracts with their provincial governments. The idea was to take pres-sure off the limited re-sources of hospitals. The clinics are paid by the prov-ince to provide their ser-vices.
Several clinics opened in Ontario after the former Conservative government signed contracts with four
companies. The companies were allowed to provide 40 hours of testing per machine per week. Physicians asso-ciated with the clinics are paid on a fee-for-service ba-sis by the Ontario Health In-surance Plan to read the test results for OHIP-covered pa-tients. While the clinics are allowed to take private cus-tomers after hours, they can-not sell MRI or CT scans to anyone who walks in off the street. You have to have a doctor’s referral. The clinics operate on a for-profit basis. The Cana-dian Health Care Coalition argues that clinics like these lay the groundwork for a pri-vate, parallel for-profit health-care system in Can-ada. “The proliferation of investor-owned private, for-profit clinics and facilities acts like a viral infection in the body of Canada’s public health-care system,” the coalition said in a news re-lease following the Septem-ber 2004 First Ministers Conference on health care. “The for-profit health care virus cannot exist without feeding off and damaging public bodies.”
Public vs. private health care (Con’t)
10
The Chateauguay Theatre Project presentation of Crimson Conclusion was a wonder-
ful afternoon of fun and entertainment. Over 60 people partook in the event and a
great time was had by all! Neighbours would like to thank the Department of Cana-
dian Heritage, the Petit Theatre and CVESPA for helping us provide this valuable ser-
vice in Rouyn-Noranda to the ESC!
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You Decide!!!
NE I GHB OU RS NEW SLET TE R
Noranda School News
Crimson Conclusion—A success in Rouyn-Noranda
Which Canadian Olympic Winter Hat was better?
2006 2002
Vote by emailing the
office or calling the
office after business hours and
leaving a message
Noranda School is a very active place – besides academics our students are exposed to a wide variety of activities to stimulate them!
Recently the students participated in a ski-day and bowling day, a bus safety course and the Family Literacy Day.
Upcoming activities include:
Student Dance on March 17
Daniel Bernard MNA to visit the History class also on the 17th
Jacques Messier from the CLSC speaking on Elderly Abuse (tentative March 22)
Students will take part in the preparations for Daffodil Day (March 31)
Jump Rope for Heart on April 13 – which will include a leadership development component for the Level 4 Students
Book Fair from April 24 – 28
Graduation on May 19
11
"To have an
Olympic Gold Medal around your neck;
its an incredible feeling, it is ex-
traordinary!"
Kingsbury was obviously and right-fully moved during the
medal ceremonies.
"It is difficult to express what I feel
with words. This exceeds all that I was able
to imagine”
Fans of women's hockey have started
to take notice of Coach Melody Davidson's vision. Davidson has made it very clear that
it's was a time for a changing of the guard. Several veterans were replaced by younger,
faster, yet less experienced ones and Gina Kingsbury is one of seven women who made her Olympic debut at the Winter Games in
Turin.
Prior to the 2006 Olympic Gold, Gina had won five medals with the Canadian
women's team. Her debut in 2001 at the World Hockey Championship resulted in a
gold medal victory. After the disappointing cancellation of the 2003 Beijing World Cham-pionship due to the SARS outbreak, Kings-
bury and her team bounced back with an-other gold medal win in 2004, followed by a
second p lace f in i sh in 2005. Kingsbury developed much of her skill playing with the Canadian U-22 team. She
began playing with them in 1999 and contin-ued to do so until 2003, even after she be-
gan her tenure with the women's team in 2001.
Few players have
as much scoring power, speed and finesse as the
24-year-old Kingsbury. During the 2004-05 cam-paign, she led the Mont-
real Axion of the NWHL in goals with 31, total points
with 60 including three shorthanded goals. She was also a key player on
her college team, the St. Lawrence Saints. Gina
graduated from St. Lawrence University in 2004 after majoring in Psychology.
Looking to Vancouver
On the personal level, Gina would have liked to produce a little more in Turin,
but "I am nevertheless content with the way I played,” she affirmed. "I hoped to pile up
more points because I was among the five best point getters during the year, but I gained my settings with the game and I
worked well in both directions. I do not re-gret anything; because the team played well
and I did my share."
Gina Kingsbury intends to be part of the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.
"That will be fantastic to play in front of a very Canadian crowd,”. The feeling will be
three times stronger than here!"
On behalf of all Neighbours Members we would like to Congratulate Gina and the whole Women’s Team on their hard work and reward!!!!
Page 11 NE I GHB OU RS NEW SLET TE R
Gina Kingsbury—Olympic Golden Dream Comes True!!
Quote of the Month:
“The three Rs – reading, ’riting, and ’rithmetic – are no longer enough. We must
12
MISSION STATEMENT
Neighbours Regional Association of Rouyn-Noranda is a volunteer-based organiza-
tion who believe in a vital future for our community.
We serve the English-speaking population of the Rouyn Noranda area through facili-
tating information sharing, defending the right of access to service in English and
organizing social and cultural events.
We are committed to strengthening networks within the English and French speaking
population as well as encouraging community development initiatives .
Objectives:
To facilitate information sharing within the ESC of Rouyn Noranda area
To strengthen networks within English-speaking and French speaking community
To defend the rights of our members to access services in English
