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Health Minister Michael Miltenberger and Western Arctic MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew announced last Friday where most of the territory's share of the money will go.
A total of 11 projects received money from the Primary Health Care Transition Fund (PHCTF), a federal program designed to ensure Canadians have access to high-quality, affordable and sustainable primary health care services.
The PHCTF dates back to the 2000 federal budget and some of the money has already been distributed.
"We have received $107,000," said Gregory Cummings, chief executive officer of the Dogrib Community Services Board (DCSB).
The DCSB is getting just over $1 million for two different projects.
A conference held March 20-21 for primary health care practitioners received some funding.
The government hopes this conference will be an annual event and set aside $120,000 for it.
About $400,000 of the funding went to promote, research, implement and evaluate the programs. A co-ordinator was hired from within the federal department of health for the job.
Another $222,000 went to create a self-care handbook.
The Inuvik Regional Health and Social Services Authority (IRHSSA) is getting the second largest piece of the pie, with close to $800,000.
The money for this project was also expected. "This is not a surprise to us," said Bonnie Lee, director client services with the IRHSSA.
"We submitted a proposal last fall, and we've been in communication with the minister since then."
The $800,000 will be used to create wellness teams focused on prevention and health promotion.
"We submitted a budget and we will be accountable to that. They will give us what we agreed on and then we obligated to spend it the way we said we would.
The DCSB also knew it was getting money in the fall of 2002.
"We submitted a proposal to the government for an integrated wellness project and a nurse practitioner program," said Cummings.
The money for those programs is spread over a three-year period.
