METIS NA TION Of ONT ARIO Annu A l Repo R t 20122013 53 rEP or t S pr omote the im pr oved health and wellness of the indi vidual the family and the whole Metis com munity Fr om the Metis Nation of Ontario Statement of Prime Purpose n umber of s taf f 67 s taf f located in Bancr oft Brampton d ryden f ort f rances Hamilton Kenora Maynooth Midland n orth Bay o ttawa o wen Sound r enfr ew Sault Ste Marie Sudbury t hunder Bay t immins t or onto W elland and W indsor b ran CH de T a I ls m e TI s n a TI on of o n T ar I o b ran CH es Heal I n G and Wellness T he Metis Nation of Ontario MNO appr oach to healing and wellness is founded upon the Statement of Prime Purpose and Metis traditions cultur e and values It is r esponsive to individual and community needs is highly accountable to both the Metis communities and its partners including funding agen cies and has a pr oven track r ecor d of excellence in policy pr ogram and ser vice pr ovision The mission of the MNO Healing and W ellness Branch in accor dance with the Statement of Prime Purpose is to pr ovide culturally appr opriate supportive selfdir ected health and wellness opportunities to addr ess the emotional spiritual mental physical and social r equir ements of individuals families and communities In keeping with Metis cultur e and values the branch pr omotes r espect compassion dignity and empow erment to foster unity balance hope belonging and pride for all generations Cor e activities of the branch ar e center ed on pr evention and pr omotion and extend to tr eatment maintenance and r ehabilitation inter ventions for Metis in Ontario The ser vice pr ovision aspect of operations is clientcentr ed holistic and focused on indi viduals families and communities acr oss the pr ovince Pr ograms and ser vices ar e Metisdesigned and deliver ed and ar e shaped by Metisidentifed needs A signifcant dir ection of the branch is on ensuring policy and pr ogram decisions ar e being made based on evidence Knowledge and evidence comes fr om a variety of sour ces including clientcentr ed information thr ough the Health Activity T racking System HA TS pr ogram performance and r esults that ar e also tracked thr ough the HA TS pr ogram evaluation and r esear ch that is integrated multidisciplinar y and collaborative in scope The Healing and W ellness branch has built a solid r eputation with other Aboriginal or ganizations partners and funding agencies fr om its r ecor d of managing funds participating on various Aboriginal committees and taking leadership r oles in a range of initiatives Recent notable achievements In 20122013 the MNO participated in the Joint W orking Gr oup on V iolence Against Aboriginal W omen V AA W with ten pr ovincial Ministries and four other Aboriginal partners The Aboriginal caucus of the Joint W orking Gr oup has been in discussion to formalize its r elations and to develop Aboriginal priorities to shape the dir ection of the Joint W orking Gr oup In addition following a Request for Pr oposal submission to the Ministr y of Health and Long T erm Car e the MNO was selected to play a lead coor dinating r ole at the pr ovincial level with the Ontario Aboriginal Responsible Gambling Pr ogram OARGP W orking Gr oup which consists of eight members including the MNO The MNO engaged and coor dinated a meeting of the W orking Gr oup in Mar ch 2013 The MNO