Veterans Affairs committee  I'll react quickly by saying that this role is very important for the Public Health Agency of Canada. Our mandate is to develop knowledge and to transmit it. That's why we do a lot of work in cooperation with our partners, the provinces and territorial governments, and with other non-governmental partners.

Veterans Affairs committee  Again, I think it is a question of state of mind. The responses are subjective, so it's how people feel about their condition. What it speaks to is a fairly positive disposition, which I think is encouraging. It's certainly something to build on.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's a very interesting question; thank you for it. In fact, I wanted to describe what we're doing in the field and to talk about the challenges we're facing, but I definitely didn't want to give the impression that the challenges are minor. There are definitely some very important questions that have to be answered, and I think we're preparing to attack them.

Veterans Affairs committee  With regard to the first part of your question, our work is indeed based on a population health approach. We look broadly at the health of Canadians and at aging. In reference to the last part of your question, we have partnerships with Veterans Affairs. For example, we worked closely with Veterans Affairs on a study of falls.

Veterans Affairs committee  The federal-provincial-territorial ministers responsible for seniors recently endorsed the model and encouraged the Public Health Agency to provide leadership in expanding its application across the country. We are now actively pursuing this charge, building on the broad and keen interest that already exists.

Veterans Affairs committee  It will probably be closer to ten to fifteen minutes.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thanks very much. I'll be making this presentation on behalf of the health portfolio, as you've mentioned. Thank you for inviting us to speak to you today about healthy aging for Canadians, and how the results of our work relate to this committee's review of veterans health care.

Health committee  I can't answer your question specifically about when the last meeting was, but I can say that we meet regularly. The consortium meets at different levels. There are working-level committee meetings. There are management-level committees. There are deputy-minister-level committees.

Health committee  Deputy ministers are involved at least annually, and beyond that, more frequently there are meetings that take place at the management committee level. Those are usually directors, directors general, and sometimes assistant deputy ministers. They will meet--and again, this is a rough guess--I would say on an average of once every two to three months.

Health committee  I'll just mention two fora in particular that I think are important in this area. One, as Mr. Ball mentioned, is the Joint Consortium for School Health, which I think is particularly significant, because at the provincial level it brings together the education and the health sectors into the same forum.

Health committee  I want to add to what my colleagues mentioned. There are two national programs in particular for children living in high-risk conditions: the Community Action Program for Children and the Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program. As I just mentioned, these programs target children living in high-risk conditions.