One year later after the release of Canada’s Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Strategy, the RHC bought together health system leaders from patient groups, life sciences associations, industry, and beyond, to reflect on the impacts of the strategy over the past 12 months and discuss what is still needed to strengthen the health and life sciences sector for the long-run.

Given the Resilient Healthcare Coalition’s focus on building stronger and more agile healthcare systems across Canada, it's an ideal time to convene a group of experts to explore new solutions and incentives to address these ballooning backlogs in cancer diagnosis and treatment.

On April 7, the Government of Canada released its 2022 budget – the first since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his governing Liberals were re-elected last Fall. The goal of this episode is to unpack the federal budget to better understand not only how it can help support greater health system resilience, but also what opportunities it fails to seize.

This spotlight episode focuses on how investing in learning health systems can pave the way towards more resilient health care systems. Dr. Brianne Wood investigates how these communities and their health systems can better generate knowledge for decision- and policymaking during public health emergencies and ongoing health system transformation.

The Resilient Healthcare Coalition (RHC) is committed to building a stronger and more interconnected health and life sciences ecosystem that is more resilient, more patient-centred, and more integral to Canada’s economic recovery than ever before. That is why the RHC has released a proposed joint mandate letter signed by health system leaders from industry, research, associations and advocacy groups across the public, private and non-profit sectors.

Since the dissolution of Parliament on August 15, 2021, the federal election was framed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a “referendum on Canada’s post-pandemic recovery”. Across the country, health leaders are trying to balance responding to the fourth wave of COVID-19, while simultaneously navigating the impacts of over a year of system disruption.

While the number of new cancer diagnoses and deaths has risen significantly over the last decade, since early 2020, global cancer diagnoses rates have dropped by 40%. Safety protocols resulted in fewer patients being seen by practitioners, as hospitals and clinics were forced to prioritize patients’ care based on risk and need. This, coupled with delays in diagnostic imaging and fewer procedures being performed, has doctors worried about a wave of cancer patients in the wake of the pandemic.

A robust life sciences strategy will generate national prosperity and support more resilient healthcare systems across Canada.

Hosted by the Resilient Healthcare Coalition (RHC), this dynamic virtual roundtable spotlighted the lifesciencescan campaign (www.lifesciencescan.ca) and its recent call for a National Life Sciences Strategy for Canada. It highlighted some of the specific steps Canadian policymakers and their sector partners should immediately take to demonstrate collaborative leadership. It also emphasized the importance of improving patient outcomes by accelerating and expanding access to health technologies, and by optimizing the collection, integration and analysis of health care data.

In Canada, there are over 170,000 charitable and non-profit organizations which contribute an average of 8.1% of total Canadian GDP, more than the retail trade industry and close to the value of the mining, oil, and gas extraction industry. This translates to two million Canadians working in the sector – supported by over 13 million volunteers. Providing essential support, education and engagement in the public policy issues of the day, health charities have always played an essential role in communities across Canada.

Over the past year, COVID-19 has forced leaders across the Canadian healthcare system to confront not only a massive public health crisis, but also a constellation of multiple pre-existing challenges each made exponentially worse by the global pandemic. Whether sitting in public health agencies or hospitals or community organizations or long-term care homes, these leaders were forced to confront health systems that were too often underfunded, underprepared and inflexible to deliver the patient care required in the face of the pandemic.