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Citizen Engagement at the Public Health Agency of Canada Elaine Chatigny Speaker biography | Panel agenda Summary
Ms. Chatigny, the Director General for Communications with the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), discussed citizen engagement initiatives within PHAC, and began with an overview of the agency's history and mission. PHAC was created in September of 2004, after the SARS experience illuminated a neglected public health sector. Similar in structure to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the PHAC is responsible for health prevention, promotion, disease surveillance, and emergency management response and planning. The Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, Dr. David Butler-Jones, directs the PHAC, which collaborates with and supports both the Ministry of Health and Health Canada. Chronic diseases, infectious diseases, public health practice, and regional operations comprise the four branches of PHAC. Because PHAC is a new entity, Chatigny has had the freedom to design a communications directorate that represents state-of-the-art thinking. This includes establishing a unit called Risk Communications in Public Involvement-the first of its kind to emphasize risk communication, evidence-based communications, and public involvement. Canada has a history of developing practical guidelines for citizen engagement. One such effort yielded the Health Canada Policy Toolkit for Public Involvement in Decision-Making. PHAC and Chatigny have adopted a useful framework from the Policy Toolkit: a continuum of more or less interaction between citizens and officials. Chatigny noted that most authorities and agencies excel at the first level, but have limited experience at the other end of the spectrum: - Inform or Educate: Perform one-way communications from officials to citizens
- Gather Information: Listen by gleaning people's opinions through polls
- Discuss: Hold a public exchange or dialogue about issues
- Engage: Foster mutual understanding of complex dimensions of an issue
- Partner: Work together to conceive and implement solutions
Citizen engagement principles resonate throughout PHAC-they are not limited to the communications directorate. For example, the agency relied upon roundtable-conversations, web surveys, and other communication techniques to garner input on public health goals and priorities from different levels of government and diverse citizen groups including First Nations people. PHAC has also adopted an ethical framework to help guide pandemic planning, and is planning a pilot citizen engagement application to garner input on the prioritized use of scarce antivirals. Chatigny echoed some of MacKinnon's points on why it is important to engage citizens in policy and program formulation: to reflect the societal values of Canadians, reconcile competing stakeholder opinions, provide a values "lens" for decision making, draw on collective knowledge, validate policies, and create legitimacy. Summary by Christiana Usenza |
