News Release
2003-14
March 24, 2003
For immediate release
Federal, Provincial and Territorial Health Ministers move ahead with the development of a Healthy Living Strategy and National Symposium
OTTAWA - In keeping with their goals to improve the health of all Canadians,
reduce health disparities and reduce the burden on the health care system, federal, provincial
and territorial Ministers of Health will hold a pan-Canadian symposium on healthy living
in Toronto on April 28 and 29, 2003.
The Symposium will include partners from all levels of government, health sector organizations,
non-governmental organizations and national voluntary organizations, Aboriginal Peoples,
the private sector, academia, consumer organizations and other relevant groups to seek
an agreement on a Healthy Living Strategy. Phase one of the Strategy will emphasize nutrition
and physical activity, and their relationship to healthy weights, while integrating work
already underway to fight tobacco use. Participants will discuss medium and long term policies
and initiatives that can be supported by governments, NGOs, the private sector and the
medical profession to help Canadians live healthier lives.
The Honourable Anne McLellan, Minister of Health, and the Honourable Jane Purves, Minister
of Health for Nova Scotia, will co-host the session.
"Along with smoking, physical inactivity and poor nutrition are the leading preventable
causes of chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease and Type II diabetes," said Minister
McLellan. "The Healthy Living Strategy will provide the support Canadians need to improve
their health and reduce personal suffering and costs to the health care system associated
with these chronic diseases. I look forward to working with all sectors to ensure that
our strategy is comprehensive and provides meaningful solutions to the challenges Canadians
face in leading healthier lives."
Minister Purves said that a key to building a sustainable health care system for the future
is helping people to stay healthy.
"In Nova Scotia, we have some of the highest rates of chronic disease, much of which is
preventable," she said. "We're working to address the risk factors, including smoking,
inactivity and poor nutrition. We look forward to this opportunity to hear from others
on the issues, and to develop a national plan that will help people live long, healthy
and productive lives."
The Strategy will integrate work already done in tobacco-use prevention, targeting the
common risk factors for the major chronic diseases, and will complement the excellent healthy
living-related programs already underway in many regions.
To inform the development of the Strategy, a series of consultations will have taken place
across the country in March, and a web-based forum has been created to allow organizations
and members of the general public to share their views related to the development of the
Strategy. Attached is the healthy living consultation workbook, which is also posted on
the website (http://www.healthyliving-viesaine.ca).
At the conclusion of the consultation period, consultations will have been held in Toronto
(March 6), Vancouver (March 10), Ottawa (March 12), Edmonton (March 17), Winnipeg (March
19), Montreal (March 24) and Halifax (March 28). A consultation with Aboriginal organizations
was held in Ottawa on March 14, and arrangements are being made to hold a roundtable session
in Whitehorse in early April.
The Integrated Pan-Canadian Healthy Living Strategy was announced by the F/P/T Ministers
of Health at their annual meeting in September 2002. The Government of Canada reiterated
its support to this initiative in the September 2002 Speech From the Throne.
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Media Inquiries:
Farah Mohamed
Health Canada
(613) 957-1694
Wendy Barnable
Nova Scotia Ministry of Health
(902) 424-4410
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