CALGARY -The mental-health toll of peacekeeping on Canadian soldiers, brought home by the emotional breakdown of retired general Romeo Dallaire, is one of the projects that will be studied with $222 million in research grants announced Monday by Prime Minister Paul Martin.
"We want a Canada that's a world leader in developing and applying the groundbreaking technologies of the 21st century," Martin told researchers and dignitaries at the University of Calgary.
"We want Canada to be a world leader in creating high-quality jobs to keep our bright young people at home," said Martin. "We cannot accomplish that without a strong commitment to science . . .and basic research."
The Canadian Institute for Health Research will distribute the money to 571 projects across Canada.
Psychiatrist Jitender Sareen of the University of Manitoba will use information from a study of soldiers to help craft better treatment programs.
The mental health of Canadian troops has gained attention in recent years because of Dallaire's breakdown after leading the UN peacekeeping mission that could do nothing to stop an ethnic slaughter in Rwanda.
Military ombudsman Andre Marin has estimated that one in five soldiers may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and has repeatedly criticized the military's handling of it. Warning signs can be depression, nightmares, alcohol or drug abuse, or just an inability to put a traumatic event out of mind.
Another project will design rules to help doctors treat C-difficile, the bacteria blamed for the deaths of more than 100 hospital patients since 2001.
Another, based at the University of Calgary, is hoping to develop treatments for the more than 3.5 million Canadians who suffer from debilitating migraine headaches.
"We hope the work we do will provide some incremental steps toward better avenues of treatment with fewer side effects," said neurobiologist Gerald Zamponi.
The grants allow researchers to support graduate students and post-doctoral research fellows.
"Those are the next generation of research scientists that we need to train to keep going and keep carrying the torch," said Zamponi.
More than $56 million will be provided to researchers in western Canada, including $26 million in Alberta, said Federal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh.
Last November, Dosanjh said increased funding for health research has allowed Canada to shed its image as an "intellectual backwater," where the most talented researchers would have to seek opportunities elsewhere.
On Monday, the minister said a recent policy requiring all clinical trials funded by CIHR to be entered in an international public registry underscores the benefit of the agency.
"This comes at a time when drug safety in a post-Vioxx world is an issue of concern to many, many Canadians," said Dosanjh.
"We want to know the good, the bad and the ugly of clinical trials in this country," he said. "We want to know what drugs we approve, why we are approving them and what happens to them in the post-market world. We want to make sure that the adverse reactions are reported, that we do drugs in a way that's safe for all Canadians."
The makers of pain reliever Vioxx pulled the arthritis drug from the market Sept. 30 after noting that a clinical trial showed long-term use (more than 18 months) was linked to higher risks of heart attacks and strokes.
