A Health Covenant: Fact Sheets on Key Health Care Issues

The “Moral Enterprise” of Health Care Demands a Covenant

The first of 47 recommendations made in the final report of the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada (released on November 28, 2002) urged the federal government to “…establish a new Canadian Health Covenant as a tangible statement of Canadians’ values and a guiding force for our publicly funded health care system.” Notably, this was also the major recommendation made by the Ecumenical Health Care Network when they appeared in a public hearing before Mr. Romanow.

Canada’s churches were pleased to have impacted the public policy process in this important manner, but remain convinced that timely government action is now needed to bring a Health Covenant into being.

A Health Covenant could provide a clear statement of the values and objectives of the health care system in Canada, becoming a set of guiding principles for policy makers, health care managers, and health providers. As innovations are encouraged, a Health Covenant could hopefully inspire and guide the exploration of how to improve health care. The nine elements of the churches’ proposed Covenant are essentially, although not identically, presented in Romanow’s final report, entitled, Building on Values (see: www.healthcarecommission.org).