Mission:

Our mission is to ensure that advanced knowledge about children and adolescents with special needs living in rural, remote and northern locations is disseminated effectively to those who need it most. This includes parents, children and youth, service providers, community groups, researchers, non-government organizations, federal, provincial and territorial governments, and all who can make a difference in the lives of children and adolescents with special needs.

Vision:

After ten years our Centre is known both nationally and internationally as a network that not only produces knowledge but puts that knowledge to work for children and adolescents with special needs living in rural and northern communities. Our work is helping to establish Canada as the world leader in research and program and policy development in this area. Our legacy includes the establishment of a permanent "policy community" for special needs in northern and rural Canada, a community that will live on long after the "official" term of the Health Canada Centre has ended.

Principles Guiding Our Research

• "Needs" refer to the things necessary for quality of life. They represent an interaction between the child and the contexts in which the child develops (family, school, community, culture).
• Children and adolescents with special needs have the same types of needs as others, but their needs vary in amount, quality and intensity.
• All children who require additional public or private resources beyond what are normally required for healthy development have special needs.
• Each child and adolescent with special needs is an exceptional individual, with a unique pattern of needs.
• Children and adolescents with special needs living in rural and northern Canada face unique challenges because of where they live.
• Access to effective, culturally and linguistically appropriate services should be available to children within their rural and remote communities.
• Emerging technology offers a brighter future for children with special needs living in rural and northern communities.