Speech for the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health for the Funding for Brain Canada

May 3, 2012
Toronto, Ontario

Check Against Delivery

Good Morning,

It is a pleasure to be here at the MaRS Centre, to announce a historic research investment.

The MaRS Centre is a great place for today's announcement, as I know the MaRS Centre is all about innovation. Innovation that will help improve the health of Canadians is what our announcement is about today.

Thanks to medical scientists, we are learning more every day about our health. And of all of the health puzzles that have yet to be solved, nothing holds more mysteries than the brain.

It is the most important but least understood part of our body.

Unfortunately, one in three Canadians will suffer from a brain disorder or psychiatric disease at some point in their lives. Common brain disorders include depression, Alzheimer's disease, brain tumours, traumatic brain injury, Parkinson's and schizophrenia.

These problems affect people of all ages and walks of life. Many begin to emerge during adolescence or early adulthood.

To help improve our understanding of Brain disorders and mental illness, our Government has created the Canada Brain Research Fund to support Canadian neuroscience research. This investment will strengthen Canada's position as a world leader in research in the identification and treatment of brain disorders.

I am pleased to announce that our government will invest up to $100M over the next six years to the Brain Canada Foundation.

I would like to recognize at this time Inez Jabalpurwala, the president and CEO of Brain Canada , as well as the members of Brain Canada's Board of Directors and members of the Science Advisory Council.

Inez, your organization does truly incredible work, and I know this investment is in good hands!

Brain Canada will match dollar-for-dollar from private donors and charitable contributions, which means this investment could result in $200 million dollars in public-private funding for brain research.

This funding will go towards research to explore different neurological diseases to determine what, if anything, they have in common.

Researchers will look at diseases that we have long thought to be unrelated to try to find links within the brain.

We want to get a better understanding of what causes them, how they might be treated, and how they might be prevented.

Brain Canada will be a uniting force; it will bring together scientists from many disciplines to identify the causes of brain disorders and then use that knowledge to develop treatments for many different diseases of the brain and nervous system.

Brain Canada will be able to draw from its many past accomplishments to guide this new avenue of research. For example, a Brain Canada research initiative led to the identification of new agents that protect the brain from injury, including ultraviolet radiation and Vitamin D.

Based on its track record, we are confident that Brain Canada will be able to raise funds across the country from people and organizations that share our passion to alleviate the suffering associated with brain diseases. This funding and the research it will support are central to our Government's commitment to help Canadians to maintain and improve their health.

On behalf of Canadians, I thank Brain Canada and its partners for accepting this challenge and their ongoing support for neurological research.

Thank you.