Summary of NACHA meeting

October 2 and 3, 2005
Regina, Saskatchewan

Hazel Bitternose, an elder from the Regina area, opened the meeting with a prayer. Mary Jamieson, the meeting facilitator, welcomed participants to the meeting. She noted that Louise Tanguay would be replacing Renée Masching on the First Nations Caucus.

Tanya Lary of the HIV/AIDS Division reviewed the status of action items from NACHA's last meeting in July 2005. She also presented a summary of NACHA's operating budget for 2004/2005 and projected budget for 2005/2006. She noted that the resource implications for the Biennial Summit were large, and if held in 2006, would require greatly reducing the number of NACHA meetings in 2006/2007. NACHA discussed the benefits and costs of holding a large summit every two years and agreed to establish a working group to develop options for presentation to NACHA at a future meeting.

Tanya Lary presented NACHA with an update on the Government of Canada's report to UNGASS (United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS), which Canada is required to submit every two years as a signatory. She also provided NACHA with a status update on work underway to review the types and kinds of advice that PHAC needs to support effective implementation of the Federal Initiative. She noted that NACHA had identified members to work with PHAC in developing the statement of work for the review. A report will be produced in Spring 2006, at which time, PHAC will approach NACHA again.

Tanya reported that the Populations Section of the HIV/AIDS Division was looking for members of NACHA to provide comments on their draft Policy Framework on Harm Reduction and Drug Use. NACHA identified members to participate in the process.

Ron Clarke of the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch provided NACHA with an update on the activities of FNIHB including a summary of the contribution agreements between FNIHB and First Nations and Inuit community groups. He reported that FNIHB was in the midst of developing an HIV/AIDS strategy, which he offered to present to NACHA at a future meeting. NACHA also received an update on the HIV epidemic and response in Saskatchewan from Greg Riehl, FNIHB's new HIV/Blood-borne Pathogens/Sexually Transmitted Infections Coordinator in the province.

Grafton Spooner provided NACHA with an update of activities at the Public Health Agency of Canada and preparations underway for the XVI International AIDS Conference (August 2006). Among other things, he reported that the Federal / Provincial / Territorial Advisory Committee on AIDS (FPT AIDS) was developing an FPT Consensus Statement on HIV/AIDS and that the recently established Government of Canada Assistant Deputy Ministers (ADM) Committee on HIV/AIDS was working toward a Government of Canada Position Statement on HIV/AIDS.

Cherylee Highway of the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies (SIIT) provided NACHA with a presentation on the Prevention, Awareness and Community Education (PACE) Program on crystal methamphetamine ("crystal meth"). She reported that, over the next six months, the PACE Program would be providing specialist training on crystal meth in each of the Health Canada Regions across the country.

NACHA discussed developing an abstract for submission to AIDS2006 and agreed that the Co-Chairs would present their abstract to NACHA for review at a later meeting.

At its July 2005 meeting, NACHA identified the need for a statement on "Aboriginal reality" which describes the sum of experiences endured by Aboriginal people at the hand of colonialism. NACHA reviewed a draft of the statement and asked Mary Jamieson to prepare a revised statement for presentation to NACHA at its next face-to-face meeting.

NACHA reviewed and approved three templates for advice: 1) on funding allocations in Nunavik, northern Quebec; 2) on a pamphlet on Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB) for people living with HIV/AIDS; 3) on developing closer relationships between FNIHB and Aboriginal AIDS service organizations (AASOs), and asked the Secretariat to submit them through the appropriate channels for action.

Marsha Hay Snyder of the Accountability and Evaluation Section of the HIV/AIDS Division participated by teleconference to present on the mechanisms that are being developed to increase accountability under the Federal Initiative.

Gil Carrière, CSC National Aboriginal Health Coordinator, presented CSC's Aboriginal-specific HIV/AIDS programming and activities. NACHA identified a number of action items in follow up to Mr. Carrière's presentation.

Fernand Comeau of the External and Government Relations Section of the HIV/AIDS Division of PHAC joined the meeting by conference call to update NACHA on Leading Together: Canada Takes Action on HIV/AIDS (2005-2010).

Shane Rhodes of the Program Development and Evidence-Based Interventions Section of the HIV/AIDS Division presented NACHA with an overview of a recent review of the Non-Reserve First Nations, Inuit and Métis Communities HIV/AIDS Project Fund. PHAC is currently preparing an official response to the recommendations in the report, which will be made public along with the evaluation report.

NACHA discussed raising its representation and visibility at gatherings across the country. NACHA asked Rick Kotowich to circulate his ideas to NACHA for further discussion at a future teleconference.

NACHA spent time discussing action on developing a communications strategy. A decision was made to have the Inuit Community prepare a bulleted list that explains the communications challenges faced by the Inuit and present these to NACHA at its next face-to-face meeting. NACHA also considered a proposal from the Métis Caucus's for a research paper on Métis and HIV/AIDS and agreed that the Métis Caucus would work on delineating the statement of work to a manageable size before submitting it to the Secretariat for action.

NACHA agreed to hold its next face-to-face meeting on: February 28 and March 1, 2006 in Ottawa. Kevin Barlow closed the meeting with a prayer.