DESCRIPTION
Health in All Policies (HiAP) is an approach that seeks to integrate health and equity considerations into decision-making processes across sectors. While the underlying principles are widely shared, the concrete strategies for implementation vary depending on context, partners, and available levers.
This webinar presented a cross-cutting perspective on various Canadian initiatives featured in the Portrait of HiAP in Canada series. Panellists representing provincial, municipal and regional governments and civil society shared their experiences implementing HiAP, with a focus on governance, intersectoral collaboration, evaluation, and conditions for success. The panel also provided an opportunity to discuss practical challenges encountered and lessons learned, with the aim of inspiring concrete action in different contexts. This webinar was held on September 25, 2025.
TARGET AUDIENCE
This webinar was intended for public health professionals, researchers, and managers, as well as their partners working in other sectors that influence the determinants of health.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of the webinar, participants were able to:
- Recognize the diversity of HiAP implementation approaches in Canada;
- Describe intersectoral levers, challenges, and strategies related to intersectoral governance and integrating health into other sectors;
- Draw practical lessons from real-world initiatives to strengthen their own HiAP efforts.
POWERPOINT PRESENTATION
The Many Facets of Health in All Policies in Canada
38 slides
SPEAKERS
Webinar Recording
PPT Presentation
38 slides
Camille Mercier
Scientific Advisor
National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy
Camille Mercier has been working at the NCCHPP since 2021 as a Scientific Advisor. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Applied Politics and a master’s degree in Public and International Policy from the Université de Sherbrooke. She contributes to various Health in All Policies projects, notably within the Canadian Network for Health in All Policies and the Global Network for Health in All Policies.
Natalia Carrillo Botero
Scientific Advisor
National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy
Natalia holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of the Andes (Colombia) and a master’s degree in sociology from Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3. After working in different organizations on global health and health promotion, she joined the NCCHPP in 2022. At the NCCHPP, she works on the Health in All Policies project and acts as the coordinator of the Canadian Network for Health in All Policies Secretariat.
Ketan Shankardass
Associate Professor
Department of Health Sciences, Wilfrid Laurier University
Dr. Ketan Shankardass is a social epidemiologist and associate professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Wilfrid Laurier University, where he leads the Health Equity Systems Interventions lab. Using approaches from epidemiology, community health, biology and geography, Dr. Shankardass aims to address drivers of population health and equity from cell to society. With the HARMONICS study, Dr. Shankardass has been working with a team of public health practitioners and scientists to study the implementation of Health in All Policies initiatives globally. Dr. Shankardass also works with Health Promotion Ontario to advocate for health promoters working in the province.
Horacio Arruda
Assistant Deputy Minister, Health Promotion and Prevention
Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux du Québec
Dr. Arruda is a medical specialist in public health and preventive medicine. For many years, he focused on field epidemiology as well as prevention and control of infectious diseases. From 2012 to 2022, he served as the National Director of Public Health at the Québec Department of Health and Social Services. He was a leader in the fields of infectious and communicable diseases, nosocomial infections, occupational and environmental health, emergency measures, as well as health promotion and prevention. It also was under his leadership that the first Governmental Health Prevention Policy – 2015-2025 (PGPS) was launched. This policy and its resulting action plan were a first of a kind in North America in the field of preventive medicine. It was designed as a global governmental approach for stakeholders to include prevention in all decision-making. Since June 2022, Dr. Arruda is the ambassador of the PGPS. Dr. Arruda also contributes to making Québec shine internationally, notably as the president of the Global Network for Health in All Policies (GNHiAP), created at the 70th WHO Annual Assembly in May 2017.
Photo Credit: Émilie Nadeau, photographer
Jason Weppler
Program Manager
Grey Bruce Public Health
Jason Weppler is a Program Manager with Grey Bruce Public Health (GBPH), a rural region 2 hours northwest of Toronto.
Jason has spent 17 years with GBPH, the first dozen as a frontline health promoter helping lead the organization’s municipal alignment strategy. In his current capacity, Jason oversees the work of the health promotion team which delivers on the chronic disease, substance, and injury requirements of the Ontario Public Health Standards. Outside of work, Jason enjoys running, hiking, and fishing but spends most of his free time driving his daughter to lacrosse events across Ontario and the United States.
Karen Rideout
Interim Manager
Healthy Public Policy Unit, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH)
Karen Rideout is the Interim Manager, Healthy Public Policy at Vancouver Coastal Health – Public Health. She is a human ecologist with a PhD in Food Systems and a Master’s in Occupational and Environmental Health. Over the past 25 years, Karen has worked in population and public health in several capacities, focusing on knowledge translation, environmental health science, healthy built environments, health equity, food security, and healthy public policy. Karen’s work brings together diverse forms of information and she strives to make knowledge useful for public health practice and healthy public policy.
Patsy Beattie-Huggan
President of The Quaich Inc. and founder of the Atlantic Summer Institute on Healthy and Safe Communities
Atlantic Summer Institute
Patsy Beattie-Huggan, BN, MScN is the founder and President of The Quaich Inc., a Prince Edward Island (PEI) based health promotion and consulting company. She holds a Bachelor of Nursing from the University of New Brunswick (UNB) and an MSc in Nursing and Health Studies from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Patsy has a broad background in nursing education and health system redesign, has served as a consultant to provincial, national and international projects, and has been instrumental in the founding and ongoing delivery of the Atlantic Summer Institute on Healthy and Safe Communities (ASI). In 2016, she coordinated the 6th Global Forum on Health Promotion, a highlight of her career. Her creative work in health promotion, including leadership in the development of the Circle of Health, has been widely recognized. Patsy’s commitment to caring, compassionate communities has led her to explore innovative and collaborative approaches to working for social change. In 2020 she was awarded the UNB Alumni Award of Distinction, and from 2020-2022 served on the National Scientific Committee of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) Conference. She is currently serving as Project Coordinator for ASI and managing a two-year project: Implementation of Upstream Mental Health Promotion in PEI – a catalyst for Atlantic Scale Up. She lives in Charlottetown with her husband Lyall, children and grandchildren around the corner and as close as ‘What’s App’ makes possible from Germany. She feels fortunate to be enjoying friends and family, walking daily with GiGi, her Springer Spaniel and celebrating every day as an occasion!!