"When the news came on June 29 that the government is going to do clinical trials, it was very exciting," the Etobicoke North MP told The Guardian this week, "but I have lots of questions going forward - will it be a multi-centred clinical trial? How many patients can reasonably be expected to be included in the trial? What will be the exclusion/inclusion criteria? What funding will be provided and when will the money be made available? What ethical guidelines will be put in place to protect people living with MS?"

Chronic Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency (CCSVI) treatment is a controversial MS procedure vaunted by many - including Duncan - as a potential breakthrough for MS sufferers. According to Duncan, initial research shows that about one-third of MS patients who receive the treatment see increased circulation, a lessening of 'the awful brain fog,' and increased motor skills.

"I never want to hope monger - and I want to be clear about that - but I know a person with secondary progressive MS who (since receiving the treatment) has left assistive living, left his wheelchair, and gone back to work because he doesn't have to sleep all day anymore," she said.

Known more commonly as 'liberation treatment,' the CCSVI procedure was pioneered by Italian doctor Paolo Zamboni for MS sufferers. It involves the widening of jugular veins in the neck via angioplasty to increase blood flow from the brain.

Late last month, Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq announced that the federal government will fund a clinical trial for the treatment, adding that she's "committed to launching an open and transparent call for applications as quickly as possible."

"I have always said that I would do everything I can to accelerate progress in this area, and I believe today's announcement is another example of our government's commitment to keep working tirelessly in the fight against MS," she said in a statement released June 29.

Aglukkaq's announcement came after more than a year of calls for clinical trial funding, but the minister said any such funding was contingent upon the presentation of sufficient medical and scientific information to support its safe procedure.

That assurance came on June 28 after a meeting with Dr. Alain Beaudet, president of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and other experts who discussed seven ongoing studies looking at CCSVI and its linkages to MS, Aglukkaq said.

"Based on this information, Dr. Beaudet advised me that there is unanimous agreement that a clinical trial should proceed at the Phase I/II level," she said.

As a first step, Duncan said she was very pleased by the announcement, as were the some 1,000 MS patients across the country she keeps in personal contact with - 300 of whom have travelled to the 50 other countries worldwide where the treatment is offered in order to receive it.

"It's been a long fight, and the heroes in this are those living with MS who have the courage to fight their disease every day and who had the courage to take on the system," she said. "They should never have had to fight their disease and the system. To me, they are heroes."