Series consists of operational records created and maintained by the National Microbiology Laboratory. (NML) The majority of the records involve the construction and establishment of the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health in Winnipeg. Also included are files from the Community Liaison Committee, which manages communication between the NML and the city of Winnipeg (an important relationship given the highly infectious diseases that are within the lab and its proximity to the properties of citizens). Series also includes records documenting the transition of the NML from Health Canada to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
This series also includes proceedings of various executive level committees including the following: Departmental Executive Committee, Regional Executive Committee, Branch Executive Committee, DG Steering Committee, Senior Management Council, Branch Management Committee, Laboratory Executive Committee, and the Science ADM Advisory Committee. Also included are program evaluations and strategic and operational business plans.
Further, records in this series document proceedings from various national, international, interdepartmental, and operational committees and working groups within which the NML is a lead or key participant. They include the following: Special Pathogens Advisory Committee, Canadian Public Health Laboratory Forum, SARS Committee, Naylor Committee, International Centre for Infectious Disease, Biotechnology Committee, National Advisory Committee on SARS, Western Canada Infectious Disease Research Network, Pan American Health Organization Executive Committee, West Nile Virus meeting, Emergency Preparedness and Response Committee, Communicable Diseases Working Group, Canadian Public Health Laboratory Network Committee, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences Committee , Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative, Chemical, Biological, Radiological/Nuclear and Explosives Committee, and the Deployment of Bioterrorism Response Team.
Also included are files documenting the NML's role as Canada's lead on the Global Health Security Action Group (GHSAG), which was established following the September 11th 2001 attacks to bring countries together to fight bioterrorism and improve global health security. The GHSAG includes Ministers/Secretaries/Commissioners of Health and senior health officials from the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the World Health Organization. The GHSAG develops and implements concrete actions to improve global health security and serves as a network of rapid communication/reaction in the event of a public health crisis.
Also included are strategic and operational files on the establishment of research ethics, the Health Security Strategy, public health protection and promotion agreements, the Report on the National Advisory Committee on SARS and Public Health (Naylor Report), and the Report on the Investigation of Community-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Arviat (Nunavut Report).
Series also includes one file titled "Eskimo Cultures Registry - 1968-1973" which had been maintained by the NML.
Researchers should consult the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control series in the Department of Health fonds for additional records created by the NML's predecessor organization (MIKAN 193663).