ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses policy changes that radically altered the environment in which health advocacy group's function, creating turmoil within the newly formed breast cancer movement and disrupting the essential connection between the patient community's grass roots members and its advocacy voice. The five-year mandate was renewed several times and over the years and the fund became the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance (CBCRA), with seven partners: two federal government departments, four cancer charities, and the national patient's network. Health Canada also provided $20 million over five years as seed money to establish a dedicated breast cancer research fund, the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Initiative (CBCRI), to be targeted exclusively to breast cancer research. In 1988, under Brian Mulroney's centre-right Progressive Conservative Party, Canada and the United States signed the Free Trade Agreement which was expanded in 1994 to include Mexico as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
