Healthy Early Years program

The Healthy Early Years (HEY) program funds projects that improve the healthy development of children (birth to 6 years) living in official language minority communities (OLMC). HEY is part of the Government of Canada's Action Plan for Official Languages.

HEY is led by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). It was launched in 2018 after consultations with OLMC stakeholders across Canada.

On this page

• Program objective
• Funding
• Other related programs

Program objective

The HEY program's goal is to improve the health and development of OLMC children and their families. HEY works towards this goal by funding health and development programs that are appropriate to the culture and language of the OLMC community.

These programs aim to improve:

• access to health promotion activities
• access to knowledge and resources
• capacity building and training initiatives

HEY funds programs that cover a variety of public health topics, including:

• infant and child health and development
• postnatal and parental health
• mental health
• nutrition and healthy weights
• injury prevention

Funding

In 2018, PHAC received $10 million in funding over 5 years and $2.2 million ongoing after 2023 to support the HEY program's initiatives. HEY distributes these funds to community-level organizations and projects that:

• have ongoing engagement with regional and local networks
• are based on the development of community plans

There are currently 2 HEY funding recipients:

• Société Santé en français (SSF)
  • oversees funding to improve the health and early development of children living in minority francophone OLMCs across Canada (outside of Quebec)
• Community Health and Social Services Network (CHSSN)
  • oversees funding to improve the health and early development of children living in minority anglophone OLMCs in Quebec

Together, the SSF and the CHSSN support about 50 projects each year. These projects serve over 10,000 children, parents, pregnant individuals and caregivers in OLMCs.

Other related programs

PHAC leads a number of other programs that aim to improve the health of young children and families through preventative approaches:

• Community Action Program for Children
  • funds community-level organizations for projects that improve health outcomes for young children from birth to age 6, who face challenges and barriers that put their health at risk
• Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program
  • funds community-level organizations for projects that improve the health of pregnant individuals, new parents and their babies who face challenges that put their health at risk
• Aboriginal Head Start in Urban and Rural Communities
  • funds programs that promote the healthy development of Indigenous preschool children
  • supports the spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical development of Indigenous children, while supporting their parents and guardians as their primary teachers
• Nobody's Perfect
  • a community-based parenting program for parents of children from birth to age 5
  • meets the needs of parents who face health equity barriers (for example who are young, single, socially or geographically isolated, or have low income or limited formal education)