Portrait of Health in All Policies in Canada: Integrating Wellbeing into Federal Decision Making – Canada’s Quality of Life Framework

The Government of Canada adopted the Quality of Life Framework (hereafter, the Framework) in 2021. Led by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and Statistics Canada, this multisectoral initiative seeks to systematically integrate evidence about the wellbeing of people living in Canada into federal budgeting and decision making by bringing together findings from national data sources that reflect economic, social, and environmental indicators of wellbeing.

The Framework prompts all federal departments to consider how their policies and programs affect wellbeing indicators, across both health and non-health elements. For example, by analyzing contributions to quality of life by specific initiatives in departments where health is not the primary mandate, such as Canadian Heritage and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, multisectoral contributions to health outcomes, as well as other aspects of wellbeing, have been identified.

The Framework emphasizes cross-cutting perspectives such as equity and sustainability, and interrelated determinants of health. By applying a whole-of-government perspective, it promotes more integrated and inclusive decision making, consistent with the Health in All Policies approach, emphasizing wellbeing across all sectors.