The Nishnawbe Aski Nation is placing its support behind the move to make Lakehead University in Thunder Bay a full partner in the northern medical school. NAN invited municipal leaders and others from northwestern Ontario to a meeting in Thunder Bay on Jan. 14.
A workshop was held to discuss how the provincial government could be convinced to reverse its decision that gave Laurentian University in Sudbury the medical school's main campus.
NAN leaders expressed concern about the high incidence of suicide and diabetes in First Nation communities, and how a medical school at Lakehead could address these epidemics.
NAN is one of the groups, along with the City of Thunder Bay and the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA), presently lobbying the provincial government. NOMA is spearheading the campaign to derail the original format of the medical school to give Thunder Bay equal status in the northern medical school initiative.
However, a recent resolution by Timmins city council has enraged Thunder Bay’s mayor and city councillors. The resolution that was sent to Thunder Bay seeks support for the northern medical school's main campus to be at Laurentian University in Sudbury, and a two-year clinical campus at Lakehead. The resolution was sent to all municipalities in Northern Ontario. Sault Ste Marie's city council has rejected it, but 14 others have accepted it.
