Member Of Parliament Tina Keeper To Launch Opening Of The National Native Addictions Partnership Foundation New Liaison Office In Ottawa

(Ottawa, Thursday November 9, 2006). Tina Keeper, the Member of Parliament for the Northern Manitoba riding of Churchill, currently the Public Health critic and full-time member of the Standing Committees on Health and Canadian Heritage will be the Host Speaker at the reception to mark the official opening in Ottawa of the National Native Addictions Partnership Foundation on November 23rd.

The National Native Addictions Partnership Foundation Inc. is an Aboriginal, non-profit organisation with a mandate to enhance and renew the Aboriginal Addictions System in Canada. The foundation has been in operation since 2000. NNAPF promotes ownership and action by Aboriginal people for Aboriginal People.

The opening of NNAPF’s new Liaison Office coincides with the Canada-wide activities marking National Addictions Awareness Week, from November 16 to 25. This will also be an opportunity to celebrate 25 years of accomplishments by the National Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program (NNADAP).

The Assembly of First Nations and the Aboriginal Healing Foundation are graciously offering a traditional buffet-lunch and have joined forces with the National Native Addictions Partnership Foundation to welcome a guest list of representatives from the Senate, the Parliament, from Aboriginal and non aboriginal organisations as well as individuals involved in Aboriginal Health and Addictions issues. The event will take place at the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.

A member of the Norway House Cree Nation, Ms. Keeper’s life and work has focused on a vision to build bridges and to enhance the wellbeing of Aboriginal and non aboriginal people in the province of Manitoba. In the past few years, Ms Keeper has been active in the development of a visioning committee in Manitoba towards a suicide prevention Program. Besides being a Gemini award winner, she is also a member of the Order of Manitoba and a recipient of an Aboriginal Achievement Award.

Her committed involvement as a member of both the Health and Canadian Heritage Standing Committees as well as a member of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development has enabled Ms. Keeper to bring to the fore, at national level, some important issues of common interest and concern from Aboriginal communities, organisations and nations across Canada.

As a member of parliament invested in the wellbeing of Aboriginal people in her Riding, her Province and across Canada, Ms. Keeper is eminently suited to introduce the National Native Addictions Partnership Foundation and to share, as the Foundation’s Host Speaker, some of her insights on Health and Addictions.