Manitoba Region

This content was archived on June 24, 2013.

Our Region

Over 800 employees in the Manitoba Region carry out Health Canada's mission including scientists, laboratory technologists, community health nurses, inspectors, environmental health officers, program delivery specialists, and the areas that support the Region's business such as human resources, finance and communications.

Work sites include nursing stations and community health centres in First Nations communities, a drug analysis laboratory, a food laboratory, and two hospitals.

Health Canada's principle offices in the Manitoba Region are located in Winnipeg.

Our Organizational Structure

Health Canada staff work toward maintaining and improving the health of Canadians through a broad range of activities delivered through several regional programs and services:

• Office of the Regional Director General
• First Nations and Inuit Health
• Regional Improving Together Initiative
• Compliance and Enforcement Directorate
• Health Programs and Laboratories Directorate
• Corporate Services

Contact

Contact us for more information about the Manitoba Region.

Office of the Regional Director General

The office of the Regional Director General (RDG) is located in Winnipeg. As the department's senior representative in the Region, the RDG is responsible for the management of regional activities and personnel. The RDG represents the interests of Health Canada on a number of interdepartmental initiatives and promotes positive relationships with other levels of government and stakeholders.

The Associate Regional Director General, whose office is in Regina (Saskatchewan Region), supports the Manitoba Regional Director General and is accountable for four business lines: Planning and Coordination, Human Resources, Capital Assets, Administrative Services and Security, and Information Management Services.

First Nations and Inuit Health

First Nations and Inuit Health operations in Manitoba employ 580 public servants. These operations form the major program area in the Region.

The program funds and delivers community-based health promotion and disease prevention in First Nations communities. It provides substantial funding to First Nations to build health facilities such as community health clinics, and for the operation of alcohol and drug abuse treatment centres. There are five of these centres in Manitoba.

First Nations and Inuit Health also provides a range of health benefits not insured by provincial health care such as prescription drugs, eyeglasses and ambulance services, as well as primary nursing services on-reserve in remote areas where no provincial services are readily available.

In Manitoba, Health Canada has 22 nursing stations in remote and isolated First Nations communities. Over 60 per cent of First Nations people living on-reserve in Manitoba live in remote, isolated or semi-isolated communities, with over 40,000 people living on-reserve north of the 53^rd parallel.

Health Canada's First Nations and Inuit Health program also operates two hospitals in this province. The Norway House Hospital serves the 7,000 residents of Norway House Cree Nation and the northern community of Norway House, located approximately 450 kilometres north of Winnipeg. The Percy E. Moore Hospital in Peguis First Nation serves approximately 10,000 people from the surrounding communities.

Regional Improving Together Initiative

On April 1, 2010, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety (HECS) and Health Products and Food (HPF) programs in the regions began operating under a new organizational structure. New groupings are Compliance and Enforcement, and Health Programs and Laboratories; delivering regional HECS, Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) and HPF program services for the Regions and Programs Branch (RAPB). The new structure supports strong collaboration among employees doing similar work.

Compliance and Enforcement Directorate

Compliance and Enforcement promotes the safe use and distribution of consumer products, tobacco, pest control products, drugs, biological products, medical devices and natural health products.

Employees focus on the enforcement of legislation and regulations to ensure health and safety are paramount in the Canadian marketplace. They strive to ensure that health and consumer products are safe and of good quality, and that products are properly labeled and distributed. They also provide post-market surveillance, quality and safety guidelines, and information to help people make informed choices about consumer and health products.

Included Programs are: Office of Controlled Substances, Product Safety, Canada Vigilance, Pesticide Compliance, Inspectorate and Tobacco Control.

Integrating the range of compliance and enforcement activities within regions ensures consistency in delivering Health Canada's regulatory mandate and contributes to program excellence.

Health Programs and Laboratories Directorate

Health Programs

Health Programs promote healthy living, working and recreational environments with a focus on health promotion, prevention and risk reduction.

Whether ensuring human health risks in the environment are identified and understood, supporting community initiatives to reduce drug and tobacco use, promoting food safety and nutritional well being, or assessing the health and safety of public servants or visitors to Canada, Health Programs employees help the people of Canada maintain and improve their health.

Included Programs are: Environmental Health, Public Service Occupational Health, Tobacco and Drugs Initiatives, Food Policy Liaison and Regional Public Involvement.

Advisory and outreach expertise is shared across activities, creating greater horizontal linkages between departmental programs and various stakeholders. This will result in improved services that respond directly to clients' needs.

Laboratories

Health Canada operates two national programs in the laboratory located in Winnipeg. The Food Laboratory analysts conduct applied research and support the development of safety standards and policies. Analysts in the Drug Analytical Service Laboratory analyse police exhibits of seized drugs to support prosecutions and assist with safe dismantling of clandestine laboratories.

Corporate Services

The activities of the Manitoba Region are supported by dedicated staff in the offices of Policy and Intergovernmental Affairs; Communications, Marketing, and Consultation; Human Resources; Information Management; Finance and Materiel Management; Capital Assets, Administration and Security; and Planning.