Vision for a Healthy Canada

A healthy Canada is one in which Canadians have the tools and resources they need to make healthier choices, lead healthier lives and build a healthier society. The healthy choice is not always the easy choice. Many factors determine the health of Canadians, and these include economic and social factors like income and employment, education, and housing.

These determinants of health affect the choices that Canadians have available to them and the choices they make. The Government of Canada is committed to supporting Canadians by providing them with tools and information to help them make informed health choices, lead healthier lives and build a healthier society.

The vision for a healthy Canada takes a holistic and pragmatic approach to health, focusing on healthy eating, healthy living, and healthy mind.

Healthy Eating

• To make the healthy food choice the easy one, the Government of Canada will help improve the conditions under which Canadians make food decisions through a new Healthy Eating Strategy.

• The Strategy outlines how Health Canada will achieve the Government’s commitments on sodium, trans fat, sugars, and marketing to children.

• As part of the Strategy, Canada’s Food Guide will be revised into a suite of products that will provide Canadians with up-to-date advice on how to eat  well. Throughout the revision process, Health Canada will engage stakeholders and the public through consultations and public opinion research. This approach will ensure that the new healthy eating recommendations and supporting tools meet the needs of Canadians and stakeholders.

• Health Canada will use every tool at its disposal – legislation, regulations, guidance and education – to help create conditions that support all Canadians in healthy eating.  

Healthy Living

• Healthy living is about choosing healthy options when we conduct our day-to-day activities – whether at home, at work or at play. For example, choosing walking instead of driving, playing outside instead of in front of a screen, packing a healthy lunch for school or work instead of eating out, reducing smoking or not starting – these are all choices we make every day. We want the healthy choice to be the easy and accessible choice for all Canadians.

• The Government of Canada is committed to taking action to help Canadians live well. This includes:
  • Work to reduce smoking by adopting stringent plain packaging for tobacco products, banning the use of menthol in cigarettes, blunt wraps and most cigars and introducing vaping legislation.
  • Continued collaboration with provinces and territories, as well as the private and not-for-profit sectors, to promote and deliver innovative programs and activities that encourage physical activity, reduce obesity, prevent chronic illnesses, and help Canadians live healthier lives.
  • Work with concussion experts, and the provinces and territories to harmonize guidelines for use in preventing and managing concussions.

Healthy Mind

• Our mental health is as important as our physical health, and we need to value it as such. The Government of Canada strives to create resilient communities supportive of mental well-being.

• To this end, the Government of Canada is working with partners and stakeholders to put in place a number of initiatives that will serve to improve the overall mental health of all Canadians, to address issues related to post-traumatic stress disorder, to prevent mental illness and to prevent suicide.

• Actions will focus on:
  • building protective factors,
  • reducing risk factors,
  • improving access to quality mental health services, and
  • fighting the stigma often associated with mental illness.