VISION:
Connecting communities, governments, the private sector, and research centres of excellence in a unified effort to make a difference

National Awards for Excellence Program Call for Nominations Closed

November 23rd , 2009

The 2010 National Awards for Excellence Program call for nominations is over! The nominations deadline was November 20th.

If you have any questions, please contact Alexandra Hejduk at 604-926-9767 ext.25 / 1-866-926-9766 ext.25 / kaiserassistant@kaiserfoundation.ca.

 

National Secretariat for 2010 National Awards for Excellence Program Selected by CARBC

October 5th, 2009

The Centre for Addictions Research of BC is contracted by the Kaiser Foundation to administer the National Secretariat that recruits peer evaluators and manages activities related to the evaluation of nominations. Each nomination is reviewed and evaluated to produce the list of finalists in each category, from which the National Advisory Committee is able to select the winners. Peer evaluators do not evaluate nominations in a category in which they, or a close colleague, are a nominee or a nominator. The time and commitment of these volunteer evaluators is greatly appreciated.

The adjudciators of the 2010 National Secretariat are:

Dennis Wardman
Director
Health Promotion & Prevention
FNIH-BC Region, Health Canada
British Columbia

Debra Dell
Coordinator
Youth Solvent Addiction Committee
Saskatchewan

Dr. Colleen Dell
Research Chair in Substance Abuse
University of Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan

Renee Ryan
Addictions Consultant
Department of Health and Community Services
Newfoundland

Louis Gliksman
Director
Social, Prevention & Health Policy Research
CAMH
Ontario

Rebecca Jesseman
Policy Analyst
CCSA
Ontario

Peter McKnight
Reporter
Vancouver Sun
British Columbia

André Picard
Reporter
Globe and Mail
Quebec

John Topp
Director General
Pavillon Foster
Quebec

John Weekes
Acting Senior Director
Addictions Research Centre, Correctional Service Canada
Prince Edward Island

Norman Giesbrecht
Public Health and Regulatory Policy Section
CAMH
Ontario

Mike DeGagne
Executive Director
Aboriginal Healing Foundation
Ontario

Diane Conley
Executive Director
Access and Early Intervention, Addiction and Mental Health
Alberta Health Services
Alberta

Laura Goossen
Regional Director
Addictions Foundation of Manitoba
Manitoba

 

Two New Programs Being Developed by the Kaiser Foundation

October, 2009

National Awards for Excellence Alumni Council

The Chairman of the Alumni Council is Michel Perron, CEO of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, and Winner of the 2009 Award for Excellence in Public Policy.

The Alumni Council will include a chair of each NAEP Award Category from past winners. This selected individual will update the contact information of the other members of their category, collect information on their ongoing projects and successes, and act as a channel through which all of the past winners can exchange information with each other.

This communication will be accomplished through a website-based discussion board, including news updates and the promotion of best practices in the field of mental health and addictions.

The Council (TBA).

This discussion board will shortly be broadened to qualified organizations, including past runners up of the Awards, within the field. In this way, the Alumni of the NAEP will be able to better exchange ideas and information for the betterment of their communities and of the country.

 

'Looking for Help?' Community Resource Webpage

The response to the Spring 2009 Public Service Annoucement was very positive and also showed a need to put people seeking help in touch with the right community programs. As such, the Kaiser Foundation has put together a special kind of resource page where people who are looking for immeadiate help can find province-specific community resources for mental health and for addiction issues on this webpage. This page is projected to go live in November, 2009.

 

New Public Service Announcement (PSA) Coming Soon

October, 2009

The Kaiser Foundation is again collaborating with Chronos Productions to produce a new PSA for the holiday season. The new PSA is projected to be released in December, 2009.

 

National Awards for Excellence Program Dinner and Awards Ceremony

Evening, May 26th, 2009

The 2009 National Awards for Excellence Program dinner and Awards ceremony went off without a hitch on Tuesday, May 26th, at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montréal, Québec.

Over 100 people from the mental health and addictions field in Québec joined delegates from the Québec and Canadian governments, as well as members of the business community from Québec and from across the country, to support our 7 Award Winners. 

Todd van der Heyden of CTV Montréal emceed the event. After opening remarks by Mary Deros of the City of Montréal, and welcoming addresses by the Dinner Chairman Richard Evans of Abitibibowater, and the Honourable Lise Thériault, Minister of Social Services in Québec, the evening’s ceremony began.

Regional Chief Roger Augustine of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island introduced Shannon Alec, Rena Alec, and Cherill Greening of Spirits of Burns Lake; next, Patrice Roy of Rx & D introduced Dr. Karen Minden of the Pine River Institute; Dr. Liz Whynot, former president of the BC Women’s Hospital was presented by Bill Wilkerson of the Global Economic Roundtable; Michael Howlett of the Mental Health Commission of Canada introduced Terry McGurk of the COAST program; next, Senator Larry Campbell presented Michel Perron of CCSA; then Loryn Marcellus of AADAC’s Youth Advisory Council was presented by Lloyd Craig of Coast Capital Savings; and lastly, Dr. Remi Quirion, Director with the Kaiser Foundation, and of Douglas Hospital at McGill University, introduced André Picard of the Globe and Mail.

To wrap up the event, a memorable and moving speech was given by our founder and Chairman, Edgar Kaiser Jr.

A great ‘thank-you’ to all who helped and to all who came out to support our amazing and inspiring Award for Excellence Winners.

NAE 2009 Winners.jpg

L-R, back row: Terry McGurk, Dr. Karen Minden, André Picard, Michel Perron, Loryn Marcellus.

L-R, front row: Cherill Greening, Shannon Alec, Rena Alec.

 

Montréal’s La Presse and The Gazette newspapers print articles on the National Awards for Excellence Dinner and Awards Ceremony of May 26th.

Please visit our media section to download pdf versions of these articles.

You can also visit their websites to view these articles:

La Presse:

Toxicomanie et maladie mentale sont liees

The Gazette:

Seven Receive Awards for Addiction Work

Dr. Ron Abrahams Invited to Speak in Russia

March, 2009

Dr. Abrahams is a 2008 alumnus of the National Awards for Excellence Program; he won the Award for Excellence in Leadership for his work with the Integrated Community (Sheway) Hospital  (BCWH- Fir Square) Program in Vancouver, BC.

Due his work’s heightened exposure as an Award Winner of the NAE program, Dr. Abrahams was invited to Russia by the Open Society Institute Foundation, to ““aid its Public Health Program’s International Harm Reduction Development Program”.

He visited three clinics in Russia and explained the Canadian harm-reduction program to his Russian colleagues.

Congratulations to Dr. Abrahams on fostering this knowledge sharing process with his counterparts in Russia.

 

Winners of 2009 National Awards for Excellence

February, 2009

The Kaiser Foundation is very pleased to announce the winners of the 2009 National Awards for Excellence. The winners are:

Spirits of Burns Lake (BC) for Aboriginal Programming

The three young women, Rosalie MacDonald, Loretta Charlie, and Shannon Alec, who run the Spirits of Burns Lake, work with the youth of their community, encouraging and empowering them to make healthy choices.

Pine River Institute (ON) for Community Programming

Since 2006, Pine River Institute has provided an intensive residential treatment centre for youth in crisis.  It targets young people who have exhausted other interventions, offering a new, creative approach.

Dr. Liz Whynot (BC) for Leadership

For more than 20 years Dr. Liz Whynot has been committed to working with the most vulnerable populations of BC. She also was the leader of BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre from 2000 to 2008.

Andre Picard (QC) for Media Reporting

Andre Picard is the public health reporter at The Globe and Mail and one of Canada’s top public policy writers on issues relating to mental health and addiction issues.

COAST (Crisis Outreach and Support Team) (ON) for Mental Health & Substance Abuse

COAST was developed to enable Hamilton police and mental health professionals to work cooperatively in providing services such as outreach, assessment, support and interventions in crisis situations to individuals who are mentally ill.

Michel Perron of CCSA (ON) for Public Policy

Over the last ten years, Michel Perron has been key to much of the innovation, partnership, vision and leadership in the field of substance abuse in Canada, and more recently in support of the United Nations, globally.

Loryn Marcellus (AB) for Youth Leadership

As a member of the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission’s Youth Advisory Council since 2004, 19-year-old Loryn Marcellus has contributed to many meaningful projects at both the local and provincial level.

Congratulations to these inspirational and motivated individuals and organizations that commit so much of their lives to the fields of mental health and addictions. For more information about our Winners, and about the National Awards for Excellence, please visit our National Awards for Excellence page.

This program would not be possible without the time and thought all the nominators took to submit their nominations to this year’s National Awards for Excellence; the applications were of a very high calibre. We encourage those of you who know individuals, organizations, or communities to submit your nominees for the 2010 National Awards for Excellence, which will be held in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Nominations for the 2010 National Awards for Excellence are open as of March 15th, 2009.

For any assistance or questions, please email awards@kaiserfoundation.ca or call 1-866-926-9766.

Aboriginal Peoples Health Initiative

February, 2009

The Foundation is working with Aboriginal groups, federal organizations, and Academic Centres of Excellence to design a program for Aboriginals, run by Aboriginals. Non-Aboriginal researchers and facilitators will be providing support for Aboriginal program coordinators but the emphasis of the project is on having Aboriginal people research, design, and implement ‘best practice’ models of health care in Aboriginal communities. The Foundation's role will be to facilitate discussion between the parties, to provide administrative support and evaluation.

We are eagerly awaiting a 'green light' from the appropriate agencies to go ahead with this long-term project.

New Directors on Kaiser Board

January, 2009

The Vancouver-based Kaiser Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of four new board members to its Board of Directors:

  • Grand Chief Phil Fontaine, Assembly of First Nations;

  • Major-General Walter Semianiw, Chief of Military Personnel for the Department of National Defence;

  • Deputy Commissioner Peter Martin, RCMP;

  • Suki Kaiser.