Opinion
The dog days of summer are a good time to reflect on our values
The “dog days of summer” offer Canadians time to disconnect from a harried life and an opportunity to reflect before reacting. Parliament is quiet, our attachment to the frenetic news cycle is unshackled and, for a few precious weeks, the yoyoing of outrage and frustration becomes a distant call of the lake loon.
Forty years after the Ottawa Charter, why do we still struggle to act on what we know?
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, one of the most influential public health documents ever written. Adopted by delegates from 38 countries at the World Health Organization's First International Conference on Health Promotion, the Charter fundamentally transformed how we think about health by challenging the notion that health is created primarily in hospitals and clinics. Instead, it argued that health is shaped by the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age.
Canada promised to watch its doctors train. We never did. AI could change that
In 2017, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada launched Competence by Design, the most consequential reform of Canadian residency training in a generation. The premise was simple: we can define all the elements that a graduating physician should know or do in practice, and we should only graduate them when a supervisor has actually watched them do the work competently and safely. The framework broke training into discrete clinical tasks, such as managing a patient with chest pain, that a trainee must be observed performing before a supervisor signs off. Nearly a decade later, the architecture is in place. The observation is not.
Every jurisdiction in Canada needs a Primary Care Act
Just over a year ago, the government of Ontario passed landmark legislation that puts primary care – the care most often delivered by family doctors – at the foundation of the health-care system.
Cancer pseudoscience and the cultural moment
The word “cancer” strikes a particular kind of fear in people’s hearts and creates a thriving market for cancer scams. If you search “cancer treatments” on Facebook (one of the first prompts that appear if you type “cancer” into the search bar), you’re immediately fed videos on alternative therapies and recommended groups discussing “natural” versus conventional cancer care.
It’s time to get mad about your health data
When my mom moved across the province to be closer to her grandkids (and I like to think, me), she faced a challenge many Canadians know all too well: finding a family doctor. But once she did, she faced another problem. It turned out that some of her medical history hadn’t made the trip with her.
At a breaking point: Workforce sustainability in home and community care needs smarter HR
The workforce pressure on our increasingly strained health-care system is not a Human Resources (HR) problem; it’s a human problem that affects every single person in the chain of care, from physicians and Personal Support Workers to the administrative teams who hold it all together.
You can’t have patient safety without good system design
In modern health care, we still behave as though safety is primarily a function of individual vigilance. When something goes wrong, health-care providers will instinctively ask “what could I have done differently?” instead of addressing a more uncomfortable question “how did our systems make this mistake more likely?” This is understandable as many enter the health-care profession firmly grounded in the principle of “first, do no harm.”
Addiction is not a moral failure: Why harm reduction matters
During a rural posting in West Africa, I once saw people at a religious centre locked up, chained to poles and subjected to harsh conditions because they were “addicted to drugs,” brought by their family members who believed they were “demon possessed” or needed “spiritual deliverance.” I remember being shocked and moved to tears at these attempts to detoxify or rehabilitate – but without evidence-based care, compassion, dignity or an understanding of the illness itself.
Disconnected by design: How fragmented health data is failing Canadian patients
Patients living in Canadian rural and remote communities often move across multiple systems simply to access basic care. Bill S-5 represents an important first step toward addressing a problem.
The illusion of choice in Ontario’s long-term care system
We cannot build a humane health-care system by forcing families to choose between unaffordable charges and unsafe or unsuitable care. That is not choice. That is pressure disguised as policy.
Canada lost its measles-free status. Our children deserve better
Canada can regain its measles elimination status, but only after we interrupt transmission for a full year. That requires hitting the 95 per cent herd immunity threshold.
The healing reach of art: Creative insights from participants and practitioners
If we are serious about improving health outcomes, particularly for populations navigating systemic barriers, creative expression should not be treated as an add-on. It should be recognized as a practical, accessible component of care.
Young people aren’t avoiding conversations about sexual health – they’re avoiding judgment
Youth are already talking about sexual health online every day. The question is whether trusted institutions are willing to meet them there – not with judgment, but with honesty, empathy and respect.
Children left waiting: The need to update emergency department triage
Long emergency wait times are now widely recognized as a structural problem. But children should not deteriorate unnoticed in emergency department waiting areas.
Is Canada’s rare disease promise collapsing?
Canadians are increasingly finding themselves in an impossible position: treatments could be approved yet remain inaccessible. Friedreich ataxia (FA) has become a powerful example of that reality.
What if your health-care team included an artist?
Imagine a world where creativity is prescribed alongside medicine – where artists collaborate with doctors to heal body, mind and spirit.
Art is health infrastructure: Rethinking gender-based violence responses for newcomer women
For newcomer survivors of gender-based domestic violence, expressive arts are not decorative. They are a practical, culturally responsive component of recovery.
Our nervous system was never meant to be this alone
As physicians, we should absolutely continue improving access to mental health care. At the same time, we should also be willing to ask larger questions about the kind of society people are attempting to stay mentally well within.
Rethinking MASLD: Can continuous glucose monitors help?
Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease is a rapidly growing public health concern afflicting an estimated 35 per cent of Canadians.