News

Today Oct 24th, 2016, the Honourable Jane Philpott, Minister of Health, announced that Health Canada started a process to revise Canada’s Food Guide to reflect the latest scientific evidence on diet and health, and to better support Canadians in making healthy food choices. The announcement was made during a keynote address at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress.

This announcement further signals the Government of Canada’s commitment to changing the food environment to help make the healthier food choice the easier choice for Canadians.

The multi-year Healthy Eating Strategy announced by the Minister includes initiatives on:

·         improving healthy eating information, including revising Canada’s Food Guide

·         protecting vulnerable populations, including restricting the commercial marketing of unhealthy foods and     beverages to children

·         strengthening labelling and claims, including finalizing changes to the nutrition facts table and list of ingredient requirements by the end of 2016, and consulting on front-of-package labelling for sugars, sodium and saturated fat

·         improving nutrition quality standards, including reducing sodium in prepackaged and restaurant foods, and consulting on eliminating the use of industrially produced trans fat in foods

·         supporting increased access to and availability of nutritious foods through the Nutrition North Canada program

Health Canada also remains committed to openness, transparency and meaningful engagement with the public and stakeholders on healthy eating initiatives. As such, Health Canada is changing the way it communicates with stakeholders. This new approach entails the disclosure of information on stakeholder meetings and correspondence sent to Health Canada outside of formal consultation processes. This approach applies to the following healthy eating initiatives:

·         front-of-package labelling

·         elimination of industrially produced trans fat

·         sodium reduction

·         marketing to kids

·         revision of Canada’s Food Guide

During the development of the new food guide, officials from the Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion will only seek expert advice from, and consult with, academics, health professional associations, health non-governmental organizations and federal, provincial and territorial officials.  All stakeholders and Canadians will have the opportunity to participate and provide feedback during the public consultations.

More information on the Healthy Eating Strategy and the new approach to communications and openness and transparency with stakeholders is available online.

If you are interested in knowing more about our Healthy Eating Strategy, contact us at healthyeating-sainealimentation@hc-sc.gc.ca

Federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) Ministers responsible for sport, physical activity, and recreation (SPAR) in Canada (excluding Québec) requested the development of an FPT physical activity framework that will help guide efforts for governments to address physical activity and sedentary behaviour; that will exist alongside other government and/or community-led efforts that contribute to encouraging Canadians to live active lifestyles. These other efforts include Active Canada 20/20: A Physical Activity and Change Agenda for Canada (AC 20/20), the Canadian Sport Policy, Framework for Recreation in Canada 2015: Pathways to Wellbeing, Curbing Childhood Obesity: A FPT Framework for Action to Promote Healthy Weights, among others.

FPT governments want to hear from all relevant stakeholders as part of a consultation process to inform the development of this framework.

The Conference Board of Canada was commissioned in August 2016 by governments to oversee the consultation process and develop a report that will synthesize the insights generated from a public survey and discussions from a series of webinars and a national workshop to help inform the development of the physical activity framework.

The survey was launched on October 20.

You or your organization has been identified as an important voice in these discussion, and we encourage you to respond to the survey before November 12 for a chance to with a FitBit.

PHSA recognizes that communities in British Columbia are unique, each with its on assets and health needs. Local level data is important to provide a picture of health in each community, and we are continually searching for innovative ways to get data into the hands of local decision-makers to support their work in creating healthier communities.

PHSA is pleased to announce the public release of Community Health Data website. The site contains new web-based community health profiles for 142 BC communities (updated from the original profiles released in 2014), a searchable database of health and social indicators, and the newly updated BC Community Health Atlas.

The Community Health Data website contains measures of health and well-being that are available across the province, and is intended to complement the resources developed by regional health authorities.

Please take a look through our interactive website, the latest community health profiles for your communities, and search the database to find more information on indicators of interest to you.  We encourage you to use and share the Community Health Data website within your organization and with community partners in your network, and welcome any comments or questions you may have. We hope the new Community Health Data website will be a valuable tool for enhancing health planning in communities across the province.

The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) has learned that the decision about Pacific NW LNG will be going to cabinet soon.  CAPE has written an open letter and PHABC Board has signed it showing our support.

At the same time, PHABC has written a letter of support to CAPE’s initiative and sent it to The Minister of Environment and Climate Change, The Minister of Health and The Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs.

To view the letter please visit:

cape-letter-of-support