This Web page has been archived on the Web.
2002 December Report of the Auditor General of Canada
December 2002 Report—Chapter 1
Case Study 1.3—Streamlining reporting in the Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority
Through the Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority, two First Nations and two tribal councils in Northern Saskatchewan jointly planned and now deliver higher-level co-ordination and professional support (third-level services). A health status and surveillance unit monitors health risks (for example, infectious disease) and health status. Under the demonstration project, the Authority will undertake research over the next three years to examine several key issues:
- whether programs are sustainable or continued,
- how the programs should be governed,
- which groups are responsible for achieving certain results or outcomes, and
- what effect there would be on health conditions and status if the programs were delivered in a different way.
The demonstration project recognizes the importance of co-ordinating the information that the federal government needs with the information that is required by communities, and streamlining reporting requirements.
A key question raised by this project is the extent to which First Nations can re-negotiate health programs and services. Instead of community health plans conforming to federal program initiatives, the planning process would be "bottom-up," or done at the community level, so that a First Nations health plan could require that some area of programming be completely eliminated to make way for new initiatives.
Source: Health Canada