About the Vision 2030 initiative

About Vision 2030

The Public Health Agency of Canada launched Vision 2030, an initiative to envision what public health surveillance in Canada should look like by 2030. To develop this vision, we consulted with diverse public health partners across the country. This way, the vision is inclusive and helps ensure that systems remain relevant and responsive to future public health needs. This will help us to strengthen surveillance activities and our ability to detect and act on public health threats.

PHAC is committed to fostering a culture of science excellence and bringing together partners to strengthen public health surveillance practice and embrace data science in it.

The vision is intended to guide partners, including public health professionals, with their own planning.

About public health surveillance

Public health professionals use the term 'public health surveillance' to describe an on-going process involving health data:

collection
analysis
interpretation
dissemination

The outcome of this process lets us plan, implement and evaluate interventions to protect and improve the health of different populations.

Explore the Vision 2030 report

Explore the final report for this initiative:

Developing the Vision 2030

Between September 2023 and March 2024, the Agency engaged with approximately 1,800 participants through in-person and virtual regional meetings and an online public survey. In doing so, we gathered a broad and diverse range of perspectives from:

the general public
Indigenous health experts and communities
academics
domestic and international public health professionals

Learn more:

Consultation: A vision for public health assessment for Canada's future
- Public discussion guide
- Technical discussion guide

We collected the data, analyzed it qualitatively and worked with an expert panel to validate the findings. In addition, the following reports served as bodies of evidence to inform this vision.

National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools:
- Rapid review: What are the latest innovations in public health surveillance methods? (PDF, 616 KB)
Canadian Institutes of Health Research:
- Best Brains Exchange what we heard report: A vision for the future of public health surveillance in Canada by 2030
National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health:
- Considerations, implications, and best practices for public health surveillance in Indigenous Communities (PDF, 15.6 MB)
National Collaborating Centres for Public Health:
- Public Health Surveillance 2030: Report on Regional Consultations (PDF, 963 KB)

Moving to implementation at the Agency

PHAC is dedicated to advancing this vision and has already initiated several key actions:

In alignment with Vision 2030 and PHAC's Science Strategy, PHAC is co-leading efforts with Health Canada and provincial, territorial and Indigenous partners to improve the foundational elements of health data including public trust, governance, and interoperability. This is being achieved through the Joint Federal, Provincial, and Territorial (FPT) Action Plan on Health Data and Digital Health and the Pan-Canadian Health Data Charter.
Similarly, PHAC is aligning with common standards for better accuracy and accessibility through the Shared Pan-Canadian Interoperability Roadmap and modernizing the sharing of public health data to support Canada's preparedness and response to public health events. The Canadian Public Health Laboratory Network plays a vital role in this work by advancing FPT laboratory data integration, harmonizing laboratory data standards, and supporting the development of interoperable systems for communicable disease surveillance and response.
To modernize data systems and improve interoperability, PHAC has upgraded its outbreak management platform for enteric diseases by integrating over 100 foodborne illness databases into a standardized application and is exploring a simplified data submission process for centralized, flexible intake of data from external partners.
PHAC has conducted a strategic review of its surveillance systems, established minimum performance standards, and enhanced its mechanisms to share and access public health data through products such as the Health of People in Canada Dashboard, Health Inequalities Data Tool, and Wastewater monitoring dashboard to provide insights into population health trends, ensuring that public health professionals have access to relevant information to inform public health action and that those living in Canada have access to data about health.
PHAC is committed to workforce development, enhancing data quality, equity, and trust in public health surveillance. It has commissioned the National Collaborating Centres for Public Health to update the Core Competencies for Public Health in Canada, which will reflect the essential knowledge, skills, and attitudes for public health practice and help support essential public health functions, including surveillance. Additionally, PHAC has implemented the Indigenous Cultural Competency Policy to promote cultural humility and safety and strengthen Indigenous public health actions through training and bilateral engagements with Indigenous organizations.

These collective and complementary efforts will ensure public health surveillance remains timely, equitable and capable of informing effective public health action. PHAC continues to engage with partners to advance the opportunities identified in the Vision 2030 report.

Page details

Date modified:: 2025-04-04

Language selection

Search