DESCRIPTION:
Public health systems across Canada are facing growing expectations and increasingly complex challenges, at a time when jurisdictions are modernizing how public health is organized, governed, and delivered. Strengthening capacity to meet these realities is a strategic priority, and shared competency frameworks provide a practical foundation for training, professional development, and consistent practice across roles, organizations, and jurisdictions.
Hosted by the National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy and the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health on behalf of the National Collaborating Centres (NCCs), this webinar highlighted the NCCs’ leadership in renewing the 2.0 Core Competencies for Public Health in Canada through extensive national engagement. This updated set of competencies offers a common foundation for effective, responsive, and innovative public health practice today. This webinar was held on February 12, 2026.
Building on this foundation, the webinar featured complementary competency frameworks relevant to capacity-building across practice, organizations, and system governance:
- Public Health Communication Competency Framework designed to strengthen communication capacity and address health misinformation;
- Organizational Leadership Competencies for Public Health System Governance, identifying the leadership skills and policy levers required to guide resilient and equitable public health systems.
Through short presentations and a moderated discussion, participants were introduced to several competency frameworks and reflected on how they can be used in education and public health practice across diverse contexts.
This webinar was offered in English, with simultaneous translation available through Wordly.
POWERPOINT PRESENTATION
Webinar – Strengthening Public Health Capacity Through Competency Frameworks
60 slides
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- Upcoming Webinar: Moving Towards Stronger Public Health: Supporting the Uptake of Core Competencies for Public Health in Canada
Presented by the National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools
March 4, 2026, 1:00-2:30 p.m. EST - Resources to build capacity for the Core Competencies for Public Health in Canada: Release 2.0
Developed by the National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools - Governing for the Public’s Health: Governance Options for a Strengthened and Renewed Public Health System in Canada
- The Black Health Education Collaborative Website
- From Risk to Resilience: An Equity Approach to COVID-19
Chief Public Health Officer of Canada’s Report on the State of Public Health in Canada 2020 - What We Heard Report: A Renewed and Strengthened Public Health System in Canada
Chief Public Health Officer’s of Canada’s Report on the State of Public Health in Canada 2021 - Mailing List:
Sign up for the Core Competencies for Public Health in Canada mailing list to receive updates, announcements and opportunities to participate in this project.
Click here to sign up.
SPEAKERS:
Webinar Recording
PPT Presentation
60 slides
Marianne Jacques
Scientific Lead
National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy
Marianne was appointed Scientific Lead for the National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP) in July 2024, (she was the acting Lead from September 2023 until June 2024). As part of her duties, she is responsible for the Centre’s scientific direction, administrative management, and for mobilizing its Advisory Board. Marianne holds a bi-disciplinary bachelor’s degree in communication studies and political science and a Master’s degree in political science with a specialization in public administration from the Université de Montréal. She joined the NCCHPP in 2007 as a Scientific Advisor and served as Coordinator from 2015 to 2023.Marianne also serves as Coordinator for the Global Network for Health in All Policies (GNHiAP) secretariat. The NCCHPP is an active member and has hosted the GNHiAP Secretariat since 2020.
Claire Betker
Scientific Lead
National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health
Claire is a registered nurse and, since March 2019, has been the NCCDH’s scientific director. Prior to coming to the NCCDH, Claire was the Executive Director of the Population and Public Health Branch with Manitoba Health, Seniors and Active Living. Her career has included roles in rural and urban public health, home health, primary health care, a regional health authority and the Public Health Agency of Canada, as well as previously serving as a senior knowledge translation specialist with the NCCDH. Claire is a past president of the Canadian Nurses Association and of the Community Health Nurses of Canada. Her PhD work focused on the capacity for public health leadership to advance health equity, a knowledge base that informs her contributions to the NCCDH, the public health field and community. Claire brings a wealth of expertise, rich networks, and a passion to translate knowledge and evidence, especially to position public health to advance health equity.
Jennifer McWhirter
Director of Health by Design Lab and
Associate Professor, Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, Guelph
Jennifer McWhirter, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Population Medicine at the University of Guelph and the Director of the Health by Design Lab. Her research interests focus on the design and assessment of information and places and the systems that shape them to promote health and prevent disease at the population level. Current research projects focus on public health competencies, environmental design for climate adaptation, health and risk communication for disease prevention, and generative AI and public health communication.
Erica DiRuggiero
Director, Centre for Global Health and
Associate Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Dr. Erica Di Ruggiero is Associate Professor of Global Health, Division of Social and Behavioural Health Sciences and Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health (DLSPH), University of Toronto. She is the Director of the DLSPH’s Centre for Global Health and Co-director, of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Health Promotion. Her research focuses on evaluating the role of different governance approaches and models in public health systems. She studies the impacts of population health interventions (policies, programs) on social, gender and health inequities. Her research also examines how evidence affects global policy agendas related to employment, other determinants of health and health equity in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. She was the inaugural Deputy Scientific Director with the CIHR-Institute of Population and Public Health. She holds a PhD in public health sciences from the University of Toronto.