Reintegrate travel health services
Petitioners ask that travel vaccines, travel medicine and travel‑health education be reintegrated into Canada’s public health system, with a reasonable user‑fee model and improved data monitoring. The government responds that provinces mainly deliver services while the federal role covers vaccine approval, safety monitoring and national travel guidance.
Why we would sign this petition
- Would reduce preventable travel‑related illnesses and ease pressure on emergency departments and inpatient care.
- Restores accessible, affordable pre‑travel advice for people who lack access to private clinics, improving prevention.
- Strengthens public‑health data collection and oversight to better detect, follow up and prevent imported infections.
Why we wouldn’t sign this petition
- Health service delivery is primarily provincial; reintegration could face legal, administrative and coordination barriers across jurisdictions.
- Costs and sustainability are uncertain; a user‑fee model may be complex, insufficient, or create inequities.
- Private clinics or alternative models may already provide capacity; public reintegration could duplicate services or be less efficient.
The summary and both sets of reasons are AI-generated from the petition and given equal weight. Claims are the petitioners’ own; consult the official record for the full text.
Official petition
PETITION TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED We, the undersigned citizens and residents of Canada, draw the attention of the House of Commons to the following: Whereas: 1. Canadians travel internationally for work, education, and leisure. This exposes them to serious but preventable travel-related diseases such as malaria, typhoid (salmonella bacteria), E. coli, cholera, and serious bacterial infections such as melioidosis; 2. Measles cases are increasing significantly worldwide. This can lead to severe complications such as encephalitis, especially as people age; 3. Many travellers return home with symptoms such as fever, severe vomiting, diarrhea, and significant weight loss, which leads to increased pressure on emergency departments and inpatient hospital stays; 4. This represents enormous costs to our health care system - costs that could be significantly decreased through pre-travel education and prevention; 5. Many people do not know where to go for travel-health advice, because Public Health programs stopped providing these services, and private clinics are often expensive and inaccessible—particularly for the younger generation; 6. Tuberculosis (TB) screening was historically provided through Public Health, but is now done by the private sector, where oversight and accountability are minimal and costs can be unaffordable for many. Therefore, we, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the House of Commons to: - Integrate travel vaccines, travel medicine, and travel-health education to return to the Public Health system across Canada; - Establish a reasonable user-fee model to support the sustainability of these services; - Ensure appropriate public-health data collection and monitoring to better understand and prevent travel-related illness among Canadians; - Recognize that we can build the public trust in travel medicine, vaccines, and screening through our Public Health System.
Government response
Response by the Minister of Health Signed by Maggie Chi While the organization and delivery of healthcare services in Canada, including travel medicine services, are primarily the responsibility of provincial and territorial governments, vaccination is a shared responsibility. The federal government is responsible for the approval and regulation of vaccines, coordinating vaccine purchases, vaccine safety monitoring, and providing evidence-based recommendations on the use of vaccines in Canada. The provinces and territories are responsible for funding, purchasing, program planning, and the delivery of immunization programs in their respective jurisdictions, including the specific types of vaccines used in their programs. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) continuously monitors emerging global health risks and communicates important travel health information to the public through Travel.gc.ca. This includes destination-specific travel health information and advice on the Travel Advice and Advisories page, and practical guidance on the Tips for Healthy Travel page to help Canadians make informed decisions before, during, and after travel. In addition, PHAC is supported by the Committee to Advise on Tropical Medicine and Travel (CATMAT), Canada's external expert advisory body that develops evidence-based recommendations on travel health and the prevention of travel-related illnesses for healthcare providers. PHAC also contributes to the monitoring and assessment of travel-related infectious disease risks and works with domestic and international partners to support public health preparedness and response activities.