Public Health Agency of Canada

The PHAC was formed by Order in Council in 2004 under 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 the time of its creation in 1998, 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.

In 2009, when the 2009 swine flu pandemic episode occurred, the PHAC had already been chartered for three years. In Canada, roughly 10% of the populace were infected with the virus,[3] with 363 confirmed deaths (as of December 8); confirmed cases had reached 10,000 when Health Canada stopped counting in July.[4] Canada began its vaccination campaign in October and vaccinated a higher proportion of its citizens than any other country.[3][5][6][7] The pandemic was the subject of a review document, issued in November 2010.[8]

The CPHO position was left vacant for 16 months until Dr Gregory W. Taylor was elevated to the post on 24 September 2014.[9] Taylor had filled the position on an interim basis since the departure of David Butler-Jones.[10]

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, 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 the agency itself."[9]

In 2015, CPHO Taylor left vacant a Beijing position, which had until 2015 "stationed a Canadian doctor in the Chinese capital as 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 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.[11]

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 was issued.[12] 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 was silenced.[13]

On September 18, 2020 while Parliament was conveniently prorogued, Tina Namiesniowski, then 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.[14]

The president is a Governor in Council appointment for a term of typically five years.[15] The post is presently held by Iain Stewart, who was appointed on 21 September 2020 to replace Tina Namiesniowski in the midst of the great PHAC-COV Upheaval and Cleanout.[16] Vice-president of the Health Security Infrastructure Branch Sally Thornton[17] was dismissed on 15 September.[18]

The chief public health officer (CPHO) is Canada's lead health professional. The CPHO is also a Governor in Council appointment whose role is to provide advice to the minister of health and to support and provide advice to the president of the Public Health Agency of Canada. Dr. Theresa Tam was named CPHO on June 26, 2017.[19]

The Public Health Agency of Canada Act[20] empowers the CPHO to communicate with other levels of government, voluntary organizations, the private sector and Canadians on public health issues. Each year, 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:

• Chief Public Health Officer
• Senior Assistant Deputy Minister—Population and Public Health Integration Branch
• Assistant Deputy Minister—Infectious Disease and Emergency Preparedness
• Deputy CPHO—Health Protection and Chronic Disease Prevention Branch
• Vice-President, Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Branch
• Executive Director—Corporate Secretariat
• Vice-President, Health Security Infrastructure Branch

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 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:[8]

outlines how 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, 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.

The PHAC is the locus of control for several systemic healthcare defences, amongst which are included:[21]

• National Emergency Stockpile System
• National Antiviral Stockpile
• Disease Control and Detection
• Health Safety
  • Travel Alerts
  • Immunization and Vaccines
  • Emergency Preparedness
  • Health Promotion
  • Injury Prevention
• Research and Statistics
• Health Education

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).[22]

• For similar agencies, see the list of national public health agencies
• VSV-EBOV, an Ebola virus vaccine developed by PHAC

• Official website
• Public Health Agency of Canada – Public Health InfoBase
• National Microbiology Laboratory
• Bill C-5 – Public Health Agency of Canada Act