Atlantic Region
Our Vision
Atlantic Canadians working together for excellence in health.
Our Mission
To work with our partners and the public to maintain and improve the health and well-being of Atlantic Canadians.
Health Canada -- Atlantic Region
The Atlantic Region has approximately 250 employees working in all four Atlantic provinces to carry out the Department's mission. Our offices are located in Halifax, Nova Scotia; Fredericton, New Brunswick; Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; and St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Atlantic Region works toward maintaining and improving the health of Canadians through a broad range of Health Canada activities delivered through various branches and corporate service offices:
Regional Director General -- Atlantic Region
The Regional Director General is Health Canada's senior representative in the Atlantic region. Responsibilities include ensuring departmental activities are consistent and coordinated across the region, and that programs complement one another and serve the needs of provincial partners, stakeholders and the public. The Regional Director General is supported by Provincial Coordinators in each of the Atlantic provinces who establish and maintain key provincial relationships and partnerships.
Health Products and Food Branch
The Health Products and Food Branch in the Atlantic Region works to ensure the safety of food as well as health products including drugs, medical devices, blood, tissues and organs.
The Food Directorate in the Atlantic Region provides a link between Health Canada, the provinces, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and other Health Canada offices to develop safety standards and policies for food. The directorate also conducts chemical research and analysis on selected food products.
Health Canada inspectors and analysts test drugs, blood and tissues such as those used in fertility and reproductive clinics, as well as media devices, veterinary products and natural health products to make sure they are safe.
Branch staff are located in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
First Nations and Inuit Health Branch
The First Nations and Inuit Health Branch within the Atlantic Region provides funding to First Nations, Inuit and Innu communities for community-based health services. The branch helps First Nations, Inuit and Innu people improve their capacity to address urgent health needs, provides non-insured health benefits, and works with other key partners to facilitate the integration of health service delivery. The branch mandate is to ensure access to health services for Firsts Nations and Inuit communities, and help them to address health barriers, disease threat, and ultimately attain health levels comparable to other Canadians.
The Atlantic First Nations and Inuit Health Branch works with 33 First Nations, six Inuit, and two Innu communities in the region and has staff in all four Atlantic provinces, including the branch headquarters in Halifax and the Labrador Health Secretariat in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL.
Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch
The Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch promotes safe living, working and recreational environments by:
- assessing and reducing health risks posed by environmental factors.
- promoting initiatives to reducing the harm caused by tobacco, alcohol and other controlled substances, environmental contaminants, and unsafe consumer and industrial products.
- regulating the safety of industrial and consumer products, tobacco and controlled substances in the Canadian marketplace.
This work is carried out through five program areas:
The branch has approximately 60 employees in 9 offices throughout the Atlantic region.
Public Health Agency of Canada
In the Atlantic region, the focus of the Public Health Agency of Canada (formerly the Population and Public Health Branch) is on community-based programs, including grants and contribution programs. It works with local and provincial non-government organizations as well as with other governments to tackle issues that affect the health of Canadians. These include healthy child development, disease, alcohol, and drugs as well as nutrition and physical activity.
For more information on the Public Health Agency of Canada, please
visit their Web site at:  www.phac-aspc.gc.ca
For more information about the Atlantic Region please contact us directly.
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