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Meeting to reveal cancer report findings cancelled

Article Origin

Author

Compiled by Shari Narine

Volume

21

Issue

4

Year

2014

A meeting with Alberta Health was cancelled by the Athabasca Chipewyan and Mikisew Cree First Nations because the government refused to provide an advance copy of a report on cancer to the local Nunee Health authority. The full cancer statistics report is set to go public in March. “We don’t want any surprises. We want to know exactly what was going on every step of the way entering this meeting,” MCFN Chief Steve Courtoreille told Fort McMurray Today. “There’s a lack of transparency going on right now. This is how mistrust is created.” In December, Alberta’s chief medical officer Dr. James Talbot said he would share the Alberta Cancer Registry’s updated figures with Fort Chipewyan’s Aboriginal leadership in the new year. Alberta Health said it was not its practise to send advanced copies of health reports prior to community meetings. In 2009, the Alberta Cancer Board released a report that found elevated cancer cases in Fort Chipewyan between1995 to 2006.