Working at Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada

Learn how you can help us promote, protect, maintain and improve the health of Canadians.

On this page

• Ensure the safety of health and consumer products, food and drugs
• Support health care delivery to First Nations and Inuit communities
• Promote innovation in health care
• Promote healthy lifestyle choices
• Promote health and prevent chronic disease
• Prevent and control infectious diseases
• Respond to emergencies and enhance health security
• Serve as the central point of public health
• For more information

Ensure the safety of health and consumer products, food and drugs

We play an active role in ensuring that Canadians are protected from food-borne illness and unsafe products.

Working with us means that you can be part of the team that:

• regulates the foods we eat
• regulates the vitamins and drugs in our medicine cabinets
• evaluates and approves new products that enter the marketplace
• uses current scientific evidence to review and assess the safety and quality of products

Support health care delivery to First Nations and Inuit communities

We support healthy First Nations and Inuit communities by working together with other federal departments alongside provincial and territorial partners.

Joining our team means that you can be part of the efforts to:

• improve health outcomes for First Nations and Inuit people
• provide access to quality health services for First Nations and Inuit communities
• support greater control for First Nations and Inuit people over their own health system

Promote innovation in health care

We also promote innovation and the use of best practices in health care across Canada.

Working closely with the provinces and territories, you can contribute to:

• strengthening our health care system
• improving outcomes and the quality of care for Canadians

Promote healthy lifestyle choices

We promote healthy lifestyle choices for Canadians. We do this by creating awareness campaigns and innovative partnerships within and beyond the health sector.

Join our team and be part of projects that:

• provide credible and timely information to Canadians
• enable Canadians to make informed choices about their health and safety, including in the areas of:
  • smoking
  • oral health
  • substance abuse
  • childhood obesity

Promote health and prevent chronic disease

Become part of our team and help us:

• support better health
• prevent chronic diseases and injuries
  • injuries include those from falls, sports and head trauma
• provide healthier lifestyle options to Canadians

Prevent and control infectious diseases

We are part of a strong, multi-partner surveillance system that helps make sure diseases are monitored and reported. This helps gather the information needed to put in place prevention and control measures for infectious diseases.

Join the team to help support our:

• National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • the NML is an internationally recognized facility equipped to accommodate the most infectious organisms
• Laboratory for Food-borne Zoonoses (LFZ) in Guelph, Ontario
  • the LFZ addresses public health risks that come from the interactions between animals, humans and the environment

Respond to emergencies and enhance health security

We are Canada's main centre of operations during a national public health emergency.

Canada will mobilize its resources to help if:

• assistance is needed
• an emergency involves more than a single province or territory

Working with us will give you the chance to be part of the team at the national level. You can help plan for and address health emergencies. These emergencies can include:

• food safety
• public health security
• pandemic preparedness to:
  • reduce societal disruption
  • minimize serious illness and death

Serve as the central point of public health

We provide the methods, tools and human resources required to support public health programming. We also promote training in order to:

• build workforce capacity across Canada's health care system to meet future demands
• ensure federal employees, health care providers and staff from non-governmental organizations are ready to respond to potential health emergencies

Become part of our team and help us:

• facilitate national approaches to public health policy and planning
• build strong intergovernmental collaboration on public health issues
• serve as a central point for sharing our expertise with the rest of the world