The National Health Union is one of 17 ‘Component’ unions of Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).
The great majority of our approximately 5,000 members work for Health Canada or the Public Health Agency of Canada. Our union is proud of the job our members do to ensure the health and security of the general populace. Every day, NHU members are hard at work making the link between government programs and policies and literally millions of Canadians. They
Group photo of members
successfully un
dertake and implement a wide variety of public health policies and activities throughout Canada. WHAT WE DO
NHU members employed by Health Canada:
• ensure that public hospital insurance and medical care program services of a standard quality
are accessible and available to virtually all Canadians;
• carry on or lend support to clinical research on communicable diseases;
• dispense information, counseling and other services in the areas of nutrition, non-medical use of
drugs, the epidemiology of communicable and non-communicable diseases and
environmental health;
• plan, develop and conduct quantitative and qualitative analysis of biological, chemical or
physical substances;
• spearhead efforts to inform the public as to the dangers of drinking and smoking;
• set standards for devices as varied as hearing aids, infant incubators, insulin syringes used by
people with diabetes and cardiac pacemakers; and
• work with First Nations and Innuit to improve the health of aboriginal peoples. Our members employed by the Public Health Agency of Canada work:
• to strengthen and improve the public health and security system across Canada;
• to provide national and international leadership in health promotion, chronic disease prevention
and control;
• to prevent and control the spread on infectious and chronic diseases; and
• to improve the health of those infected by disease.
