ARCHIVED - Public Health Agency of Canada

The Standing Committee on Health tabled a report on March 27, 2007 entitled, Healthy Weights for Healthy Kids. The report outlined the seriousness of childhood obesity in Canada and identified 13 recommendations to address concerns related to childhood obesity.  The report is available at:  http://cmte.parl.gc.ca/cmte/CommitteePublication.aspx?COM=10481&Lang=1&SourceId=199309

The Government of Canada’s response to the report was prepared by the Health Portfolio, with contributions from several other government departments and agencies and was tabled on August 22, 2007. The response is available on the web at:  http://cmte.parl.gc.ca/cmte/CommitteePublication.aspx?COM=10481&Lang=1&SourceId=213785

Acknowledging that there is still much work to be done, the response outlined many of the Government of Canada’s current initiatives related to childhood obesity. Given the complexity of the issue of obesity, the recommendations address areas within the mandates of numerous federal departments.

Initiatives undertaken by the Agency in 2007-08 to respond to the recommendations include:

• With provincial and territorial governments, establishing national physical activity targets for children and youth [addresses recommendation 1];
• Providing Physical Activity Guides for Children and Youth, funding a ParticipACTION social marketing campaign, supporting SummerActive and WinterActive initiatives and investing in a campaign to promote the Children’s Fitness Tax Credit [recommendation 2];
• Continue supporting data collection and reporting on children’s physical activity levels, eating behaviours and weight status [recommendation 5];
• Supporting knowledge exchange among researchers, practitioners and policy makers to improve awareness of issues related to body weight and health and on trade, health and agri-food policy, with a particular focus on childhood obesity [recommendation 6];
• Implementing the Project Evaluation Reporting Tool as a requirement for national physical activity and healthy eating projects (including those which target children) to measure their effectiveness [recommendation 7];
• Assessing links and opportunities for collaboration with other government departments such as Infrastructure Canada and Human Resources and Social Development Canada;  establishing a Health Portfolio Steering Committee [recommendation 8];
• Supporting a March 2008 conference on Obesity and the Impact of Marketing on Children, participating in an international study, and commissioning of a report on marketing to children to inform the Government of Canada’s assessment of the effectiveness of self-regulation of marketing to children [recommendation 9];
• and Collaborating with Health Canada on a joint communications strategy to promote the physical activity and nutrition scientific background papers for the WHO School Policy Framework [recommendation 12].

The Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights tabled a report in April 2007 entitled, Children: The Silenced Citizens, Effective Implementation of Canada’s International Obligations with respect to the Rights of Children. The report outlined Canada’s international obligations with respect to the rights and freedoms of children, and calls for the establishment of a policy framework for the ratification and implementation of Canada’s international human rights obligations. The report can be found at:  http://www.parl.gc.ca/39/1/parlbus/commbus/senate/com-e/huma-e/rep-e/rep10apr07-e.htm

The Government of Canada’s response to the report, prepared by the Department of Justice with contributions from the Health Portfolio and other government departments and agencies, was tabled on November 15, 2007. Acknowledging that there is still much work to be done, the response outlines many of the Government of Canada’s initiatives related to children’s rights.

The Government’s response to the Senate affirms that Canada is committed to:

• Meeting its international human rights obligations concerning children;
• Supporting healthy child development;
• Combating exploitation and violence against children; and
• Protecting vulnerable children.

On behalf of the Minister of Health, the Public Health Agency of Canada co-leads with the Department of Justice federal government efforts on matters concerning the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Agency promotes children’s health and well-being through a variety of measures.

Health promotion programming was and continues to be successfully delivered to pregnant women, children and families at risk for poor health outcomes through community-based early intervention programs, such as the Community Action Program for Children, the Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program, and Aboriginal Head Start in Urban and Northern Communities.

The Nobody’s Perfect parenting education and support program helps parents recognize their strengths and implement positive parenting principles. Canada’s Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder initiative helps to prevent alcohol-affected births and provides Canadians with identification, screening, and diagnostic tools. The Family Violence Initiative promotes public awareness of the risk factors of family violence; strengthens the criminal justice, housing and health systems’ capacity to respond; and, supports efforts to identify effective interventions.

Youth engagement practices in relevant policy development areas are actively promoted to support policies/programs that effectively address the needs of Canada’s youth. To this end, the Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement, one of four Agency-sponsored Centres of Excellence for Children’s Well-Being, works with youth, youth service providers, researchers and governments to encourage youth participation in meaningful activities, as well as efforts to combat bullying and improve prevention programs at a local level.

A new Inter-departmental Working Group on Children’s Rights, co-chaired by the Agency and the Department of Justice, has been created to promote a whole-of-government approach to children’s rights, and to encourage linkages among departments with policies affecting children. By ensuring regular discussion of children’s rights and related issues, this committee will continue to promote awareness and understanding of the obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child among federal officials.

Within the Public Health Agency, the work was focused on the centres responsible for infectious diseases and emergency preparedness, including the laboratories directly involved in surveillance.  Given the close links between animal and human diseases, the OAG also considered surveillance activities carried out by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

The OAG Report outlined four key concerns regarding surveillance of infectious diseases by the Agency:
•    Weaknesses related to strategic direction, data quality, results measurement, and information sharing that were noted in previous OAG audits still remain;
•    While the Agency relied heavily on the good will of provinces and territories for surveillance information, there are gaps in information-sharing agreements;
•    In the event of a public health emergency, critical arrangements need to be sorted out; and
•    The Agency and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency have not jointly determined which of the animal diseases that could affect the health of people are the highest priority for surveillance, and which of the two agencies will carry out surveillance of what diseases.

The OAG Report provided twelve recommendations for the Agency.

The Agency has committed to take action to address the concerns raised in the report and has already moved forward by developing a surveillance strategy and establishing the Surveillance Integration Team to improve and better integrate surveillance activities across the Agency.

The objective of this audit was to determine whether the staffing requirements of the Public Service Employment Act, Public Service Employment Regulations, PSC policies and other applicable legislation were met for appointments of public servants returning from ministers' offices and to assess the risk to political impartiality. The PSC examined the movement of 58 public servants between the federal public service and ministers' offices. Public Health Agency of Canada was covered by this audit.

The PSC Report could be found at :  http://www.psc-cfp.gc.ca/adt-vrf/rprt/2007/mbmo-mecm/index-eng.htm

The period covered by the audit is January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2006 and includes appointment activities conducted under the current Public Service Employment Act. Organizations to which authority for EX appointments has been delegated are being audited. The Canada Public Health Agency of Canada is such an organization.

The sample comprises 50% of appointment activity at the EX-01 to EX-03 levels and 100% of EX-04 and EX-05 levels. At the Agency and for the period under review, this represents six appointments at the EX-01 to EX-03 levels and none at the EX-04 and EX-05 levels. 

The PSC’s government-wide Audit Report is to be tabled with Parliament in October 2008.