Registration open for Canada Health Act at 40 Research Roundtable

The Canadian Health Coalition’s research roundtable is back and marking the 40th anniversary of the Canada Health Act. Four decades on, it is time to reflect on what this historic legislation has accomplished and what must be done to ensure everyone has access to comprehensive public health care in Canada.

With health care in turmoil, Canada’s leading researchers on health care will get to the heart of health care crisis and explore hopeful solutions that build on the dream of universal health care for everyone.

Co-hosted by the University of Ottawa’s Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics with support from St. Thomas University, the roundtable will take place at the University of Ottawa on June 20 and feature some of the country’s foremost researchers on public health care.

The day-long roundtable will feature panels on creeping privatization with Andrew Longhurst and Danyaal Raza, winning pharmacare with Joel Lexchin and Marc André Gagnon, expanding Medicare services and universality with Y.Y. Chen and David Macdonald, implementing creative public health care solutions with Action Canada’s Frédérique Chabot and enforcing the Canada Health Act with Ian Johnson.

Greg Marchildon, pictured here, and Bill Tholl will revisit their 2017 piece, “Ten Unhelpful Myths about the Canada Health Act.“ Marchildon is the Ontario Research Chair in Health Policy and System Design with the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. From 2001-2002, he was executive director of a federal Royal Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada (the Romanow Commission). With Katherine Fierlbeck, he is the co-author of The Boundaries of Medicare: Public Health Care beyond the Canada Health Act.

The roundtable will kick off with a presentation from Health Canada directors on their department’s latest annual report, revealing how each province and territory measured up in terms of respecting the Canada Health Act.

The day will end with a fireside chat and book signing with Jane Philpott, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Director of the School of Medicine, Queen’s University and former Minister of Health. Philpott is the author of the new book, Health for All: A Doctor’s Prescription for a Healthier Canada. Books can be purchased at the registration link and picked up at the research roundtable.

The research roundtable is timely as provinces and territories are advancing privatization schemes that further erode the public system, in complete disregard of the five principles of the Canada Health Act – universality, accessibility, comprehensiveness, portability and public administration.

Need a refresher on the 5 principles? Join our webinar series with Colleen Fuller, Greg Marchildon, Katherine Fierlbeck, Antonia Maioni, Colleen Flood and Jane Philpott to learn more about each principle. The experts will converse with the Canadian Health Coalition’s Anne Lagacé Dowson in the weeks before the research roundtable. Sign up for the webinar series here.

Tracy Glynn is the National Director of Projects and Operations for the Canadian Health Coalition