Hospital receives $1.2B cash infusion

Ottawa helping fund new facility to serve mainly First Nations people in northern Ontario

- JOY SPEARCHIEF-MORRIS

Canada will provide funding to complete construction of a new hospital in northern Ontario that will primarily serve First Nations people following weeks of pressure from the federal NDP, First Nations leadership and the Ford government.

On Monday, the federal government announced $1.2 billion in funding for the Weeneebayko Area Health Authority (WAHA) Hospital Redevelopment Project. The new facility will replace the Weeneebayko General Hospital, located on Moose Factory Island on the south coast of James Bay.

"This is the completion of a project that has been long-standing and I'm very thrilled to be able to commit the $1.2 billion to Ontario so they can complete the project," Indigenous Services Canada Minister Patty Hajdu told reporters Monday in Ottawa.

Hajdu said the federal government has provided $200 million to the project since 2018.

However, when the federal budget was released in April, there was no mention of the money needed to complete the project, prompting calls for Ottawa to uphold its commitment to First Nations and see the project through.