Health committee  Please do.

Health committee  Sure. Prevention needs to become the norm when we think about health care. The prevention declaration has become the foundational piece that's guiding our federal, provincial, and territorial work. It's strong, and everyone has bought into it. Internationally, people are looking at it and saying Canada has moved in the right direction.

Health committee  I'll have to give you the short answer: no. We don't have good data.

Health committee  Yes. In our surveillance work, that's exactly what we're doing. We're identifying where the gaps in data are and how we can do a better job of filling those gaps. For instance, in the context of our aboriginal populations, we are in a partnership with the Métis Nation of Canada to help them develop their own surveillance system so that the data they gather can serve their own local needs.

Health committee  That's a really good point you're making and is something that comes up repeatedly in our conversations with the agri-food sector. We have worked with the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute to determine how we can encourage consumption of local food. There's certainly an interest in the agri-food community in being more active in promoting healthy food products and in innovating so that healthier food is available to Canadians.

Health committee  I would say that there are not particular diseases. The fact is that the incidence of diseases like diabetes and cancer, which are driven by risk factors of overweight and obesity, physical inactivity, and unhealthy eating, are more common in these populations because they can do less to reduce their risk factors.

Health committee  I'd be glad to, and thanks a lot for the question. It's really important. I keep coming back to the notion that what we're really trying to do is build prevention into our norm and change our approach from thinking about the health care system to thinking about a health system in which prevention is embedded in every aspect.

Health committee  Sure. On the issue of how we partner with provinces and territories, when the Public Health Agency of Canada was created, an entity called the Pan-Canadian Public Health Network was created. That council is a partnership of the federal, provincial, and territorial governments. The council really does provide the entry point for us into discussions with our provincial and territorial colleagues, and it focuses its efforts on three main areas.

Health committee  Thank you. That's a really important question. In the context of the federal role, we're not directly creating those spaces, but through our partnerships and through our support to community organizations and to community work being focused on seniors, that's happening. So many of the projects that we are funding are allowing networks of seniors to come together, and the message around prevention and the tools to help seniors live healthy lives and be supported in their communities are being developed.

Health committee  I think I'll start by saying that with regard to what the agency does to help seniors prevent and manage chronic diseases, we do that in partnership with a variety of other organizations--I mentioned some of them--but also, of course, and really importantly, with the provinces and territories.

Health committee  There's a lot of interest in and work going on around patient navigation for a number of diseases, Alzheimer's being one of them, cardiovascular disease being another. Conversations are going on about patient navigation and where it fits. I will undertake to find out more about the work that's going on in patient navigation as well.

Health committee  Yes.

Health committee  I don't know the answer to that.

Health committee  Okay, good question. Let me see if I have that number with me…. I may have it, which would be great.

Health committee  There may be some aspects of that I'll need to get back to you on.