Engaging Partners in Strengthening Canada's Animal Health System

Proposing a Framework to Engage Partners in the development of a National Animal Health Strategy for Canada

Table of Contents

Roles and Responsibilities of Partners in the Process

Each partner has an important role to play in the development of the Strategy. 

The NAHS Team is composed of government individuals who coordinate the engagement process and sustain the dialogue between partners.  Their roles can be divided in three areas:

1. development of documents that will sustain the dialogue (e.g. context document, policy discussion document, glossary, recommendations, etc);
2. sharing the information developed by other partners through their participation in meetings, the publication of documents and meeting minutes on the Web, the organization of multi-partners meetings at key intervals);
3. support to the partners' engagement process through the provision of Secretariat functions (e.g. meeting minutes, translation of documents, organization of meetings).

One NAHS Team member is assigned to each leading partner organization involved in the process.

The federal-provincial-territorial and Aboriginal governments responsible for ecosystem health, animal health, fish and seafood health, and public health have a key role to play in shaping the National Animal Health Strategy.  The Council of Chief Veterinary Officers, the Canadian Wildlife Directors and the Chief Medical Officers of Health are key advisors to the NAHS Team.  They are responsible for

1. providing early comments, recommendations, suggested changes and advice on all draft documents prepared by the NAHS Team;
2. sharing information and engaging other relevant organizations within their jurisdictions in the development of the Strategy;
3. ensuring the NAHS Team understands fully the regional interests at play in their jurisdictions and advising the Team on appropriate approaches and directions.

(Representatives of the Assembly of First Nations, the Métis National Council, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, Native Women's Association of Canada.are advising the NAHS Team on how best approach Aboriginal governments engagement.)

Each partner organization represents a key group of players in Canada's animal health system.  Their membership is often distributed across the country.  These organizations are therefore well-positioned to engage a large group of individuals in the Strategy development process.  Their expected roles are 

1. to convene regular meetings of their members (or a chosen group of members);
2. to lead and sustain the dialogue between themselves and the NAHS Team at every step of the Strategy development process (see next section of this document);
3. to provide regular ad-hoc feedback and recommendations to the NAHS Team through direct communication channels with the NAHS Team member assigned to their leading organization;
4. to share the result of their members' dialogues with others through the publication of meeting minutes and relevant documents on the NAHS Team Website;
5. to provide direct input to the multi-partners process by participating in meetings organized by the NAHS Team (see next section of this document).

It is also expected that the partner organizations will co-lead with the relevant government organization(s) the development of action plans ensuing from the Strategy.