Dr. David Butler-Jones was the first Chief Public Health Officer of Canada holding the position from 2004 to 2014. He is returning to Saskatchewan to speak to an audience brought together by the Saskatchewan Public Health Association on June 9th.

Upstream's Ryan Meili caught Dr. Butler-Jones on the phone recently to chat about the state of Public Health and it's role in addressing the 'wicked problems' our society faces.

We’ve recently recognized two important days in this country: Canada Day, and Aboriginal Day. The contrast between the two tells us some important things about health and cultural equity in this country.

What's your story?

Most health professionals have some point in their career where all of a sudden, a lightbulb seems to turn on.

It happens often and powerfully with nurses, who spend so much time and emotional energy with their patients, that eventually, inevitably, there will come a time when they see that the greatest sources of our sickness, or our health, are not microbial or behavioural. They're social, political and economic.

We want to help you tell the story of when this first happened to you. It can focus on your own perspective, or the lives and experiences of your patients. Keep reading for a useful list of these social determinants of health, and the questions you can ask yourself to get the ball rolling.

“A nation’s greatness lies not in the quantities of its goods but in the quality of its life.”

-          Tommy Douglas

Prior to his current role at the West Side Community Clinic, Upstream founder Ryan Meili was a travelling locum physician in small towns all over Saskatchewan. His clinical experiences then and now reveal to him the limits of medicine and the importance of upstream action to address the social determinants of health.

Below is the full text of "Catch and Release", a chapter in the recently released compilation Surprising Lives of Small Town Doctors, Dr. Meili writes of encounters with illness and death in the early part of his career. 

Meili will join the book's editor Dr. Paul Dhillon and other contributors for the Saskatchewan launch at McNally Robinson Booksellers May 19 at 7:30. 

Over the past few weeks, we have learned a good deal about what can be done to improve food security in Canada, a key element of our collective health.

The scope of the issue is considerable, with over 3 million Canadians not getting enough to eat to 2014,  but what really stands out in PROOF's work is the growing nature of the problem.

We’ve fielded several calls lately from journalists working on stories about rising food prices. You've probably read a few: most aim to provide quick tips for how Canadians can make a dollar go further in the grocery store, and how to eat healthy for less.

We all have a personal food policy that speaks to our health, our income level, our ethical and cultural priorities. Yet if we were to look at our country, we would find it deeply divided when it comes to food.