FRANCAIS

March 28, 2000

Parent-child centres, prenatal and early childhood nutrition programs, and nurses in schools are among the goals of the provincial government's new Healthy Child initiative, Tim Sale, minister of family services and housing, announced today.

"We know from research that children who grow up in safe, stable and nurturing environments have better outcomes throughout their lives, and that the earlier they have these experiences, the better the results," said Sale.

"For me the goal is clear: to develop government initiatives that will make our communities a healthy place for children and their families to live, learn, work and play," said Sale, lead minister of the newly created Healthy Child Committee of Cabinet. "By creating a cabinet committee devoted to early childhood programs, we are sending a strong signal that the health and well-being of our children is a top priority of this government."

Healthy Child will focus on such initiatives as parent- child centres, prenatal and early childhood nutrition programs, nurses in schools, adolescent pregnancy prevention, and fetal alcohol syndrome/fetal alcohol effect prevention. Healthy Child will include programs started by the Children and Youth Secretariat. In order to strengthen program delivery and lower administration costs, Children and Youth Secretariat programs and staff will be transferred to the Healthy Child initiative which will be co-ordinated through the Department of Family Services and Housing.

Healthy Child will be directed by a cabinet committee, led by Sale, which includes Aboriginal and Northern Affairs Minister Eric Robinson, Health Minister Dave Chomiak, Education and Training Minister Drew Caldwell and Attorney General Gord Mackintosh.

The benefit of a cabinet committee is its ability to develop co-ordinated, long-term strategies for children at the highest level of government, said Robinson.

"Every child in Manitoba needs as many opportunities as possible for a good start," Robinson said. "The creation of this broad initiative indicates the importance of this issue to the government. It is also a signal of our commitment to the well-being of future generations, which includes restoring hope for Aboriginal children and their families."

Caldwell emphasized that research shows that effective early childhood programs are a sound investment. These programs lead to enormous economic benefits such as improved graduation rates, decreased crime among youth and lower reliance on social assistance, he added.

"It is costly and difficult to overcome the effects of a bad start," Caldwell said. "For example, each time a child is born with fetal alcohol syndrome or its less severe form, fetal alcohol effect, the long-term social and economic costs are enormous. Studies show that there is at least a two-to-one payback in economic benefit if we invest in our children at an early age."

Sale said further details of the Healthy Child initiative would be unveiled in the 2000-2001 budget.

"Children are the messages we send forward to the future," said Sale. "I look forward to working with my colleagues as we begin the process of rebuilding hope among Manitoba families and communities through the fulfilment of our long-time promise of a Healthy Child initiative."

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