Towards a National One Health Strategy for Canada: Building a Resilient Future

The One Health approach is no longer just a theory: it has become an indispensable lever to tackle the health challenges of our time. The panel discussion “Toward a One Health Strategy for Canada” marks a crucial step in identifying concrete actions, collaborations, and policies needed for Canada to position itself as a global leader in adopting and implementing this approach.

It is now well established that pandemic, environmental, and social challenges can no longer be addressed in isolation. We are in an era where socio-ecological crises are so interconnected that fragmented approaches to human, animal, and environmental health are no longer sufficient. Instead, we need a unified vision that rethinks how research, academic training, professional practices, public and scientific policies, and institutions function. The One Health approach proposes transformative mobilization across all levels and sectors, working together for the common good.

Since the early 2000s, the conceptualization of interdependencies among human, animal, and environmental health has gained momentum, catalyzed by recent events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This pandemic underscored how all living beings are interconnected within a shared environment. Through inclusive, intersectoral, and transdisciplinary collaboration and systems thinking, the One Health approach offers an essential lever for better prevention and response to major challenges shaping the coming decades, such as the rise of zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance, food security, climate change, and biodiversity loss.

This need has already been recognized in several Canadian policy actions. The Climate Science 2050 report highlights the importance of aligning climate science with the One Health approach, while the Nature Strategy 2030 report positions One Health as a central pillar in halting and reversing biodiversity loss. Similarly, since 2022, the plans of Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) have integrated One Health into their strategies to address emerging pathogens, zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and food security. In short, the framework is clear: integrated and holistic approaches are essential to guide actions by explicitly linking ecosystem health with the health of all living beings.

A Strategy that Mobilizes All Sectors

Canada has a unique opportunity to become a global leader in implementing the One Health approach. To achieve this, it is essential to develop a pan-Canadian strategy that engages stakeholders across research, education, government, industry, and civil society. This strategy must not only address today’s challenges but also anticipate future crises by enhancing coordination among actors.

Our panel at the Canadian Science Policy Conference, “Toward a One Health Strategy for Canada“ aims to reflect on these issues by addressing three critical questions:

1. Defining a One Health approach rooted in Canadian realities: Pandemics and environmental crises have shown that health can no longer be disconnected from the social, economic, and ecological realities of different regions. Therefore, our One Health approach must consider Canada’s geographical and cultural particularities, incorporating both Indigenous and non-Indigenous knowledge.
2. Operationalizing the strategy through public policies: To move from ideas to action, a national One Health strategy must rely on robust regulatory frameworks and public and scientific policies. These must integrate sectors related to public health, agri-food systems, and the environment.
3. Training a generation of interdisciplinary leaders: A new generation of professionals capable of understanding and addressing complex challenges in an integrated way must emerge. By embedding the One Health approach into our educational programs, we ensure these future leaders develop the skills needed to innovate and collaborate across disciplines.

A Win-Win-Win Scenario

Adopting a national One Health strategy is not just a response to current socio-ecological crises; it is an investment in our future. This means protecting our ecosystems while improving public health and food security. It also means that every sector—from research and academic training to citizen and government action—must work together to ensure our responses to crises are coherent, proactive, and sustainable.

Canada has long been at the forefront of scientific and technological innovation. By championing the One Health approach, we can protect Canadians, their wildlife, their ecosystems, and their natural environments while inspiring other countries. This is our opportunity to turn ideas into concrete actions, develop science-based policies, and build a future where all forms of health are equitably and sustainably protected. This is how we can better nourish, protect, design, plan, equip, and live for tomorrow.