Ottawa-Animal Health Canada (AHC) has set five strategic goals it wants to accomplish by 2030 to protect and advance the health and welfare of farmed animals in the country.

Working on its One Health and One Welfare approach, AHC wants to bring together federal and provincial governments and industry organizations in a partnership to accomplish the goals.

The goals cover strengthened disease prevention, preparedness and response capacity, resilient disease surveillance, strengthened antimicrobial resistance/antimicrobial use (AMR/AMU) activities, advanced farmed animal welfare and improve long-term organizational resilience.

One Health and One Welfare are two concepts involving the critical intersection of animals, people and the environment and underscores AHC’s belief in continual improvement of health and welfare of animals, people and the environment.

As an agency of communication and integrity, AHC aims to be leaders, convenors, facilitators and collaborators for the farmed animal sector. “This means identifying important issues across the sector, bringing together stakeholders to solve those issues and communicating to the broader community.

Its Industry-Government Leadership Group has an overarching mandate to champion the organization and its collaborative approach. It will advise AHC by providing guidance and recommendations on issues related to animal health and welfare in Canada. This advice is to be based on consensus and reflects a diverse range of voices from governments and the agriculture sector.

This collaborative Group will be an external advisory group to the AHC Board of Directors.

World AMR Awareness Week in late November served as part of an annual global campaign to improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

This year’s theme of Act Now: Protect Our Present, Secure Our Future, underscored the urgent need for bold, coordinated, cross-sectoral action to address AMR, a growing global threat that is already affecting our health, food systems, environment and economies.

One of the goals listed in the Animal Health Canada Strategic Plan 2025-2030 is to strengthen antimicrobial resistance/antimicrobial use (AMR/AMU) activities.

The National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC) is Canada’s national platform for collaborative leadership on farm animal welfare. Its process-driven framework enables diverse stakeholders to co-create Codes of Practice for livestock and poultry. Its approach fosters progress in welfare standards that supports the long-term viability of Canadian agriculture.

Through a trusted process and platform, NFACC ensures that farm animal care in Canada evolves through thoughtful deliberation, shared responsibility, and a commitment to doing what’s right, AHC said.

The Canadian Animal Health Surveillance System (CAHSS)’s Beef Cattle Surveillance Network links the diverse beef community - industry, government and service provider representatives – to explore the opportunities and challenges of coordinating and strengthening beef surveillance systems in Canada.

In 2024 and 2025, members of the network identified the top surveillance issues relevant to the Canadian beef sector.

This news report prepared for National Newswatch