Health Canada

Health Canada is the department of the Government of Canada responsible for national health policy. 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. The department is responsible to Parliament through the minister of health – presently Jean-Yves Duclos – as part of the federal health portfolio. The minister is assisted by the associate minister of health, and minister of mental health and addictions – presently Carolyn Bennett.