Healing health care

Health for All: A Doctor’s Prescription for a Healthier Canada

Jane Philpott
McClelland/Signal, 2024.

It was not surprising to read a strong, clear case for access to primary health care in Dr. Jane Philpott’s prescription to reform health care in Canada, in her manifesto Health for All: A Doctor’s Prescription for a Healthier Canada. I was surprised by her focus on spiritual health in the second section – as an essential piece, not an add-on. Philpott’s rich discussion of the spiritual roots of good health makes this book worth reading by itself; another surprise comes in the fourth and final section.

Dr. Philpott draws on her experience as a family doctor, but also her faith, her life journey and her experience as a former federal cabinet minister of health and Indigenous services. The book combines a comprehensive vision with practical steps for citizens as well as professionals, in an easy-to-read style – clearer than some of my visits with doctors.

Sharing her Christian faith and how it relates to her life’s work is part of Philpott’s winsome case. Changing Canadian culture from the reluctance to talk about religion to sharing deep beliefs among Canada’s multicultural population is one of her recommended steps toward a healthier Canada. The four themes in the section on spiritual health are relevant for all areas of life: Hope (rooted in faith); Belonging (unconditional love and connectedness); Meaning (making sense of one’s situation); and Purpose (what gets you up in the morning.) Centering these four at the core of good health comes from the First Nations Mental Wellness Continuum.

The part of Philpott’s prescription that will likely get the most attention in Canada is her call to give everyone in Canada access to primary health care – through geographic, community-based health care teams – by 2035. She repeatedly compares it to the assumption that every child can go to the local public school. She points to the Netherlands to illustrate that it can be done.

The importance of the social determinants of health – the third section on the book – is now widely accepted. From her work with Indigenous peoples, she focuses on land, language, lineage and loved ones. I appreciated her intentional rejection of the term “vulnerable groups” because they are made vulnerable by our culture and the way our society is structured, and that is what needs to change.

This is the surprise in the fourth and final section: the political determinants of health. “Politics,” writes Philpott, “is nothing but medicine writ large.” It is a “leap from healing individuals to healing societies.” Canada won’t achieve health for all until citizens band together to fix our politics. From a core commitment to justice, equity and fairness to the more practical use of clinical methods to diagnose and address political issues, Philpott’s prescription draws on her own experiences on Parliament Hill. While most Canadians agree with her impatience with the federal-provincial blame games in health care, that is likely the biggest obstacle to achieving her vision of health for all, even if it makes common sense.

The central message of Health for All is gaining traction through media attention, such as a Globe and Mail editorial endorsement on October 9, and through citizen action in local communities and provincial elections. Treating basic health care the same way we approach public education resonates as common sense. In an interview on CBC’s The Current, Philpott explained why she also gave spiritual health a central place. That aspect of her mindset is fostering thoughtful discussion in an ecumenical book club that I attend.

Philpott writes for every Canadian because our health is at stake, and because she knows only strong public demand will lead to successfully filling her prescription. The prophetic and the practical come together in her call for “health in all policies” in the next federal election, starting with universal access to primary care by 2035.