Health Canada


Health Canada is the department of the Government of Canada that is responsible for the country's federal health policy, overseen by the Minister of Health as part of their Health Portfolio.
Originally created as the "Department of Health" in 1919—in the wake of the Spanish flu crisis—what is known as Health Canada today was formed in 1993 from the former Health and Welfare Canada department, which split into two separate units; the other department being Human Resources and Labour Canada.
The department itself is also responsible for numerous federal health-related agencies, including the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the Public Health Agency of Canada, among others. These organizations help to ensure compliance with federal law in a variety of healthcare, agricultural, and pharmaceutical activities. This responsibility also involves extensive collaboration with various other federal- and provincial-level organizations in order to ensure the safety of food, health, and pharmaceutical products—including the regulation of health research and pharmaceutical manufacturing/testing facilities.

Organization

Health Canada's leadership consists of:
The following branches, offices, and bureaus fall under the jurisdiction of Health Canada:
In their responsible of maintaining and improving the health of Canadians, the Minister of Health is supported by the Health Portfolio, which comprises Health Canada as well as:
In December 2016, Health Canada approved the purchase of a new botulism antitoxin called heptavalent botulism antitoxin from the American-based company Emergent Biosolutions, a global specialty biopharmaceutical company. The PHAC has identified botulism as a likely biological terrorist threat.

Labs and offices

Offices

The Compliance and Enforcement Directorate provides support to Health Canada by enforcing the laws and regulations pertaining to the production, distribution, importation, sale, and/or use of consumer products, including but not limited to: tobacco, pest control materials, drugs and medical devices, biologics, and natural health products.
The Directorate conducts inspections and investigations to ensure that products are safe, of good quality, and properly labelled and distributed, in order to better protect Canadians from potentially harmful products and consumables.
Compliance and Enforcement Directorate is divided into six distinct programs:
Acts for which Health Canada has total or partial responsibility:
Acts which Health Canada is involved or has special interest in:
An editorial published by the Canadian Medical Association Journal has called for Health Canada to more strictly regulate natural health products. The editorial cited weaknesses in current legislation that allow natural health products to make baseless health claims, to neglect side-effects research prior to products reaching market, and to be sold without being evaluated by Health Canada.
On 10 September 2012, a report on CBC television questioned the safety of drugs sold in North America. The Brandon Sun reported that Health Canada is secretive about inspections about drugs manufactured overseas, leaving the public unsure about the safety of these drugs.

International counterparts