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46-726: The Nova Scotia Health Authority operates various facilities across the province of Nova Scotia: Northern Zone Western Zone Eastern Zone Central Zone Associated Indigenous Health Centres The Nova Scotia Health Authority was formed on April 1, 2015, as an amalgamation of nine existing regional authorities: The authority received a $ 843,530 grant from the Public Health Agency of Canada 's Immunization Partnership Fund to implement Nova Scotia 's Enhanced Immunization Access Project. Between December 2019 and May 2020, parents of children born in 2011 were surveyed to collect up-to-date immunization records . On September 1, 2021,

92-605: A concept of operations outlining four scalable response levels and a governance structure that aims to facilitate an efficient, timely, evidence-informed and consistent approach across jurisdictions. The PHAC headquarters are located in two pillars—one is in Ottawa , and the other is the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg , Manitoba , the location of Canada's only Level 4 microbiology lab for human health. Both

138-574: A direct point of connection to Chinese health officials (and an independent observer). In the absence of its own early-warning system, Canada was forced to rely more heavily on the WHO." Adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa and national security critic Wesley Wark laments that vacancy, and said "What we didn't have was the capacity – our own independent capacity – to verify" the state of affairs in China, which

184-645: A federal/provincial/territorial process in 1991, with subsequent editions in 2000 and 2009. Following the 2009 revision, the decision was taken to make future updates on a case-by-case basis." The Canadian Adverse Events Following Immunization Surveillance System (CAEFISS) is a "federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) public health post-market vaccine safety surveillance system" managed by PHAC. CAEFISS receives passive reports of Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) as well as engages in active monitoring of marketed vaccines in Canada. Pharmacovigilance related to AEFI

230-692: A new organisation be formed. It was so instantiated, by Order in Council in 2004 under the Minister of State for Public Health (Canada) of the Martin government and subsequently by legislation that came into force on December 15, 2006 under the Harper government . It is part of the federal government's Health Portfolio (along with Health Canada , the Canadian Institutes of Health Research , and other organizations). At

276-624: A split personality developed with the twin agencies of President and CPHO. The post of President is presently held by Iain Stewart, who was appointed on 21 September 2020 to replace Tina Namiesniowski. Vice-president of the Health Security Infrastructure Branch Sally Thornton was also dismissed on 15 September in the midst of controversy over the disbandment of the GPHIN system. The chief public health officer (CPHO)

322-578: A threat to Canadian security", an inconvenient truth that the Chretien government wanted to silence. Christian Leuprecht , an academic at the Royal Military College says this reveals larger security issues at the NML: "This would also explain why you haven't charged them, because once you charge them, then eventually you have to put people on trial. And when you put people on trial, then you have to disclose

368-445: A timely response to the needs of Canadians. The Public Health Network Council (PHNC) is an FPT committee that is co-chaired by the deputy CPHO, Dr Howard Njoo. The PHNC is populated by an array of directors, deputies, chiefs, experts and coordinators, from far and wide the public health guardians of Canada . The FPT SAC on Public Health Response Plan for Biological Events has been in place since at least October 2017: outlines how

414-515: Is Theresa Tam , who was appointed in June 2017. The CPHO position was created by Carolyn Bennett in her position as Minister of State for Public Health (Canada) in 2004, along with the Public Health Agency of Canada . Per the Public Health Agency of Canada Act (2006), the CPHO holds office "during pleasure for a term not exceeding five years". The CPHO can be reappointed for additional terms. The CPHO

460-545: Is Canada's lead health professional. The CPHO is also a Governor-in-Council appointment whose role is to provide advice both to the Minister of Health and to the President of the PHAC. Dr. Theresa Tam was named CPHO on June 26, 2017. The Public Health Agency of Canada Act empowers the CPHO to communicate with other levels of government, voluntary organizations, the private sector and Canadians on public health issues. Each year,

506-404: Is a shared responsibility between Health Canada and PHAC. The PHAC produces numerous reports, amongst which are the annual CPHO reports to the public as well as the annual departmental results summary which is provided for a Parliamentary audience. The CPHO produces yearly public health reports which "summarize evidence on high-priority public health issues and provide a way forward to improve

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552-666: Is an agency of the Government of Canada that is responsible for public health , emergency preparedness and response, and infectious and chronic disease control and prevention. The PHAC was formed because of a series of official inquiries about the SARS crisis in Canada which was particularly severe. For example, the province of Ontario inquiry and the National Advisory Committee on SARS and Public Health both recommended that

598-737: Is responsible for possible health risks from: The PHAC houses the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance System (CJDSS) at its Ottawa headquarters. "The Canada Communicable Disease Report (CCDR) is a bilingual, peer-reviewed journal on infectious diseases." It appears "on the first Thursday of each month, with combined issues in March/April and July/August. CCDR publishes surveillance reports, outbreak reports, original research, rapid communications, advisory committee statements and more... The journal has been in continuous publication since 1975," first by Health Canada. Since

644-487: Is selected through an open and transparent national competitive process, and is appointed by the Governor-in-Council. The process is merit-based: as per the Public Health Agency of Canada Act , the CPHO must be a qualified public health professional. The CPHO is responsible for: During public health emergencies, such as outbreaks or natural disasters, the CPHO is responsible for: The chief public health officer

690-646: The National Research Council of Canada to head up the troubled division. The PHAC controls and funds the National Microbiology Laboratory BSL4 lab at which Xiangguo Qiu and her husband Keding Cheng performed their research into dangerous infectious diseases like Ebola and the West Nile virus . In July 2019 the Chinese nationals were fired from their non-salaried positions at

736-580: The University of Winnipeg and "an unknown number of her [UW] students from China were removed from the lab on July 5" after the RCMP was called in May 2019 to investigate the curious affair of a trans-Pacific shipment of BSL4-grade viruses; at the time the PHAC was not identified by the CBC as other than an interested party although her LinkedIn page does list her employer since 2003 as the PHAC. In May 2021, it came to light that

782-412: The minister of health and the president of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), works in collaboration with the agency president in the agency's leadership and management, and works with other departments and levels of government on public health matters. PHAC, along with the CPHO post was established in 2004 amidst the SARS crisis. The third and current chief public health officer of Canada

828-584: The 2004 bouleversement it has been published by PHAC. As of May 2020, the duties of Editor-in-Chief were delegated to Michel Deilgat, who resided in the Office of the Chief Science Officer at the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Branch. The French title of the publication is "Relevé des maladies transmissibles au Canada." The past Editor-in-Chief who had the office from 2013 to 2019

874-508: The CPHO is required to submit a report to the Minister of Health on the state of public health in Canada. The PHAC houses several bureaucrats: Because the portfolio at the PHAC crosses so many boundaries, and especially jurisdictional ones, the civil servants have evolved what are known as Special Advisory Committees (SAC), which include Federal/Provincial/Territorial (FPT) officials such as deputy ministers of health, so as to attempt to ensure

920-637: The Chinese government." Meanwhile the Trudeau government sent the matter to the NSICOP , which was created in 2017 by Justin Trudeau to review matters relating to national security or intelligence. A former Crown prosecutor saw parallels to the 20th century Project Sidewinder , a joint RCMP-CSIS effort which found that "the Chinese government and Asian criminal gangs had been working together in drug smuggling, nuclear espionage and other criminal activities that constituted

966-526: The Chinese soldier. Feihu participated in studies of Ebola , Lassa fever and Rift Valley fever . As of June 2021, the CBC had informants inside the NML who had seen "the Chinese military scientist" Feihu "at the NML", It was revealed in June 2021 that, during the initial RCMP investigation, "several computers had been seized, a lab log book was missing and Qiu's regular trips to China were suspended." The CBC reporter

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1012-548: The NML, co-authored six scholarly papers with Qiu while s/he was employed by the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences , and furthermore had been paid by the PHAC for parts of this five-year collaboration which began before "early 2016". Qiu has co-authored at least eight publications with Yan. A retired CSIS director observed that Canadian researchers are subject to stringent security checks and that this national security procedure somehow appeared to have been bypassed by

1058-612: The PHAC had employed the pair until their dismissal in January 2021. As of May 2021 the PHAC "has repeatedly declined to divulge to the House of Commons special committee on Canada-China relations " the reason for their dismissal, a situation which puzzles certain Parliamentarians because Parliament through their agent the Cabinet funds the PHAC. In the event of continued rebuff from the President of

1104-567: The PHAC, the Parliamentarians have already voted to send the issue to the House from which they were delegated. The President has legal advice from government solicitors in which he is advised against disclosure, but the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs named Rob Oliphant broadcast his non-confidence in the legal advice of the government of which he is a member. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service had "urged

1150-549: The President and the CPHO officiate from Ottawa. The President is ranked above the CPHO in the departmental org chart. The PHAC is the locus of control for several systemic healthcare defences, amongst which are included: As well as the above, the PHAC houses the Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response (CEPR), Canadian Field Epidemiology Program (CFEP) and the Canadian Public Health Service (CPHS). The CEPR

1196-534: The agency itself." On 28 September 2016, the Commissioner of Official Languages (at the time Graham Fraser ) told the Executive Committee of the PHAC that "official languages leadership is also a question of public health" in a speech authorized by President Siddika Mithani . In 2015, CPHO Taylor left vacant a Beijing position, which had until 2015 "stationed a Canadian doctor in the Chinese capital as

1242-403: The current global reality, we must recognize that public health threats that go unchecked anywhere in the world have the potential to very rapidly become a public health threat in Canada. Theresa Tam is the third and present CPHO. Initially taking on the role in an acting capacity on December 16, 2016 following the retirement of Gregory Taylor, Tam was formally appointed on June 26, 2017, and led

1288-614: The evidence that you have. So the government might quite intentionally trying to keep this sort of relatively below the radar as much as it can," not to mention the fact that there is no facility in Canadian law which allows trial in absentia . The PHAC has played a central leadership role in Canada's response to the COVID-19 pandemic . In 2020, the PHAC convened the COVID-19 Clinical Pharmacology Task Group. The CPTG

1334-516: The funder had been redacted by government. Qiu appears to have defected, since she has published 32 academic papers since she was escorted from the NML in July 2019, although Qiu was on the payroll of PHAC until January 2021. The CBC had actually asked Wang Wenbin of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (China) in June 2021 at his weekly press conference "if Qiu and Cheng were involved in espionage on behalf of

1380-543: The group recommended only administering the drug as a part of a clinical trial . The president is a Governor in Council appointment for a term of five years. While in early years of the PHAC the President of the organization was identical to the Chief Public Health Officer , who is required by law to be a scientist, the Harper government innovated to manage the organization via the more malleable civil service, and

1426-420: The health of Canadians." The Departmental Results Reports can be found along with Financial Statements. CPHO The chief public health officer of Canada ( CPHO ; French : administratrice en chef de la santé publique; ACSP ) is the lead health professional and primary spokesperson on public health related matters for the Government of Canada . The chief public health officer provides advice to

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1472-469: The national response to public health events caused by biological agents will be conducted and coordinated, with a focus on implementation of responses led by senior-level FPT public health decision-makers. The plan was developed by an expert task group and was approved by PHNC in October, 2017. The plan describes roles, responsibilities and authorities of FPT governments for public health and emergency management,

1518-659: The new structure came from the agency itself," which was led at the time on an interim basis for the previous 16 months by Gregory W. Taylor . Theresa Tam, who has held the position since June 26 2017, released a vision statement in early 2018. She wishes to pay particular attention to the reduction of health discrepancies in the country, which includes collaborating with and reducing the socioeconomic gap of Indigenous Peoples. Her six areas of focus are currently: As CPHO, Tam wrote Fifteen years post-SARS: Key milestones in Canada's public health emergency response , in which she remarked somewhat presciently as it turns out that: With

1564-738: The newly elected provincial government undertook wholesale changes in the NS Health Authority. The CEO and volunteer board members were released from their duties. An interim CEO was appointed. Karen Oldfield, newly appointed interim CEO, previously was the senior executive at the Halifax Ports Corporation. The health authority has a history of medical professional misconduct scandals in Nova Scotia. Public Health Agency of Canada The Public Health Agency of Canada ( PHAC ; French : Agence de la santé publique du Canada, ASPC )

1610-420: The omnibus budget bill instituted a parallel Presidential structure to govern the organisation that then could be staffed by non-medical and non-scientific personnel. The NDP health critic said at the time that: "To bury it in an omnibus bill says to me that they don't want people to know about it and they don't want questions," while Health Minister Rona Ambrose said that "the idea for the new structure came from

1656-504: The populace were infected with the virus, with 363 confirmed deaths (as of December 8); confirmed cases had reached 10,000 when Health Canada stopped counting in July. Canada began its vaccination campaign in October and vaccinated a higher proportion of its citizens than any other country. The pandemic was the subject of a review document, issued in November 2010. The CPHO position was left vacant for 16 months until Dr Gregory W. Taylor

1702-500: The removal of the security clearances" of the Chinese pair, the event of which brought the matter to public light in July 2019. Stewart said March 2021 that the January 2021 termination of the scientists was due to a "number of review processes" initiated by the PHAC in 2018, "relating to possible breaches of security protocols". It later came to light that a soldier from the People's Liberation Army of China named Feihu Yan had worked at

1748-556: The time of its creation in 2004, most of the agency's staff were located in the former Gandalf Technologies building in Nepean , south of Ottawa, and were part of Health Canada 's Population and Public Health Branch . The first President of the PHAC and Chief Public Health Officer was David Butler-Jones . In 2009, when the 2009 swine flu pandemic episode occurred, the PHAC had already been chartered for three years. In Canada, roughly 10% of

1794-541: Was an ad-hoc advisory committee composed of experts in the fields of infectious disease, microbiology, clinical pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences. The group's work concluded on March 30, 2021, and their statements removed from the government website. Membership of the CPTG included: The CPTG released several statements regarding COVID-19 treatments , advising against hydroxychloroquine while advocating for dexamethasone in hospitalized patients. Considering remdesivir ,

1840-504: Was elevated to the post on 24 September 2014. Taylor had filled the position on an interim basis since the departure of David Butler-Jones . In the November 2014 omnibus budget bill , the 28th Canadian Ministry of Stephen Harper decided to reorganise the management structure of PHAC. Whereas formerly the deputy civil servant charged with the operation of the PHAC was identical to the CPHO ,

1886-498: Was issued. On 30 July 2020, the auditor general of Canada took notice of a Globe and Mail report in which whistleblowers had participated and launched an investigation into the scandal. The GPHIN had been part of Canada's contribution to the WHO , which described GPHIN as "a cornerstone" and "the foundation" of global early warning. In fact "approximately 20 per cent of the WHO's epidemiological intelligence" had come from GPHIN before it

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1932-809: Was named Patricia Huston. The Canadian Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (CNDSS) "collects, validates and maintains basic surveillance data on approximately 60 nationally notifiable diseases, dating back to 1924. Nationally notifiable diseases are infectious diseases that have been identified by the federal government and provinces and territories as priorities for monitoring and control efforts. Provinces and territories voluntarily submit annual notifiable disease data, which are used to produce national disease counts and rates. Age-group and sex breakdown are presented from 1991 onward." "Case definitions for nationally notifiable diseases are intended to support public health activities rather than clinical diagnosis. Standardized case definitions for NND were first developed through

1978-415: Was silenced. On September 18, 2020 while Parliament was prorogued , Tina Namiesniowski, who was then the President of the PHAC resigned 17 months into her five-year tenure, which had begun on May 6, 2019. Her resignation followed the resignation of Vice-President in charge of the pandemic early warning system and emergency stockpile who had resigned earlier in the week. Iain Stewart was transferred from

2024-649: Was the head of the Public Health Agency of Canada until 2014, in which government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper reorganized the management structure of PHAC through a 2014 omnibus budget bill and instituted a parallel presidential-structure and position to govern the organization, that then could be staffed by non-medical and non-scientific personnel. The NDP health critic said at the time that: "To bury it in an omnibus bill says to me that they don't want people to know about it and they don't want questions," while Health Minister Rona Ambrose said that "the idea for

2070-489: Was the source of the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak from which was drawn the raison-d'etre of the PHAC. This state of affairs came to light in various media at various times during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic . On 24 May 2019, the Global Public Health Intelligence Network (GPHIN) of PHAC was completely disbanded and a "department edict that all such alerts had to be approved by senior managers" of PHAC

2116-592: Was under the impression that two clearances are required to work at the NML: one under the HPTA and another "secret level clearance", but she does not disclose the name nor the controller of this latter clearance. The CBC reported in June 2021 that they had seen government documents through the Access to Information Act that revealed Qiu to have been funded by a third-party not PHAC for her Chinese travels, of which there were "at least five trips" during 2017 and 2018. The identity of

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