Transparency of Stakeholder Communications for Marketing and Advertising of Opioids Initiatives
On this page
- About open government
- Consulting with stakeholders
- Approach to communicating with stakeholders
- Notification
- Protecting privacy
- Retention Period
- For more information
About open government
Canada's commitment to open government will help the federal government to remain transparent and open with its citizens. As part of this commitment, we're making more information available to the public. We also want to create a more responsive government by providing Canadians with more opportunities to participate in discussions on:
- policies
- priorities
- regulations
Consulting with stakeholders
Consultation activities on restricting the marketing and advertising of opioids have been designed to promote the involvement of, and consider the views and perspectives of, a wide variety of participants. This includes, but is not limited to: professional regulatory bodies, health care professionals, opioid manufacturers and distributors, health and patient organizations, individuals with lived and living experience, and members of the public.
Approach to communicating with stakeholders
Health Canada publishes a table of all correspondence and meetings with stakeholders on the Meetings and Correspondence on Marketing and Advertising of Opioids page in which views, opinions and information are relayed with the intent to inform the development of policies, guidance or regulations related to the restriction of marketing and advertising of opioids.
The table includes the date, subject and purpose of the meetings and correspondence. The title of any document provided during meetings will also be published. The documents listed in the table will be accessible to members of the public upon request, for the sole purpose of ensuring greater transparency. The disclosures made as part of this new policy are not part of the consultation process. Health Canada is therefore not seeking any feedback on any of these documents.
Communication for the purposes of making simple enquiries or requests for information that do not have any relevance, in Health Canada's view, to the development of policies related to restricting the marketing and advertising of opioids will not be published.
Responses to formal consultations will be summarized in publicly available reports, such as a What We Heard report. A formal consultation is defined as a process where Health Canada invites Canadians and stakeholders to comment on new or potential changes to its policies, regulations or guidance and for which there is a defined start and end date for receiving feedback. This approach will help improve public trust, openness and transparency around stakeholder engagement activities related to restricting the marketing and advertising of opioids beyond the formal consultation processes.
For the purpose of this policy, stakeholders are defined as:
- groups
- organizations
- industry
- advocates
The definition excludes:
- individuals representing themselves, including experts
- other levels of government
- foreign governments
Notification
Stakeholders will be notified by Health Canada that information received in the following context will not be considered confidential:
- when a meeting is requested
- during a meeting
- when correspondence is received
Protecting privacy
Personal information provided to Health Canada during stakeholder communications will be governed in accordance with the Privacy Act.
More information about how personal information will be handled can be found on the Information and Privacy Notice for Specific Health Products and Food Branch Initiatives page.
When interacting with Health Canada, stakeholders will be notified of how their personal information will be used and/or disclosed.
Retention period
The list of meetings and incoming correspondence will be posted for 2 years.
For more information
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