Established by the President of the Royal Society of Canada in April 2020, the RSC Task Force on COVID-19 was mandated to provide evidence-informed perspectives on major societal challenges in response to and recovery from COVID-19. 

The Task Force established a series of Working Groups to rapidly develop Policy Briefings, with the objective of supporting policy makers with evidence to inform their decisions. 

Full Report

Executive Summary

Overview of “Strengthening Health Care in Canada Post COVID-19 Pandemic”

The COVID-19 pandemic has provided compelling evidence that substantive changes to our health care systems are needed.  Specifically, the pandemic has emphasized structural inequities on a broad scale within Canadian society.  These include systemic racial and socioeconomic inequities that must be addressed broadly, including in the delivery of health care.  We make recommendations about what we can do to emerge from the pandemic stronger. While these recommendations are not novel, how they are framed and contextualized differs because of the problems in our health care system that have been highlighted and exacerbated in the pandemic.

Authors of the Report

Linda Rabeneck (Panel Chair), MD MPH FRCPC, University of Toronto

Chris McCabe, MSc PhD, Queen’s University, Belfast

Mark Dobrow, MSc PhD, University of Toronto

Arlinda Ruco, MPH PhD, St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS

Melissa Andrew, MD MPH PhD FRCPC, Dalhousie University

Sabrina Wong, RN, PhD, FAAN, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Nursing Research

Sharon Straus, MD MSc FRCPC, University of Toronto

Lawrence Paszat, MD MS FRCPC, University of Toronto

Lisa Richardson, MD MA FRCPC, University of Toronto

Chris Simpson, MD FRCPC, Queen’s University

Andrew Boozary, MD MS MPP CCFP University of Toronto

For further information or for media requests, contact Erika Kujawski at ekujawski@rsc-src.ca. 

 
This report has also been published in the FACETS collection of RSC Policy Briefings. The report is available here
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