Our Centre

Integrating health equity and the social determinants of health into Canadian public health practice.

At the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health (NCCDH), we provide the Canadian public health community with knowledge and resources to take action on the social determinants of health, to close the gap between those who are most and least healthy.

We work with the public health field to move knowledge into action—in practice, in policy and in decision making—to achieve societal improvements that result in health for all.

We are one of six national collaborating centres funded through a Public Health Agency of Canada program.

We are hosted at St. Francis Xavier University (StFX) in Antigonish, Nova Scotia (Mi’kma’ki).

StFX has a rich history in social justice beginning in the 1920s with the Antigonish Movement. The Movement began, led by Father Jimmy Thompkins and Dr. Moses Coady, as a local community-based movement in response to poverty affecting disadvantaged groups in Eastern Canada. StFX quickly created an Extension Department to teach and use these community actions and adult education methods. After World War II, the Coady International Institute was founded to continue this work with an international audience. The Institute is well respected worldwide as a centre for leadership education about community-based development. Situating the NCCDH here furthers StFX’s deep commitment to applying knowledge to social change.

We would like to acknowledge this sacred land on which the NCCDH operates. We acknowledge that we are located in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People. This territory is covered by the “Treaties of Peace and Friendship” which Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) peoples first signed with the British Crown in 1725. The treaties did not deal with surrender of lands and resources but in fact recognized Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) title and established the rules for what was to be an ongoing relationship between nations. We acknowledge this land in thanks to the Mi’kmaq people who have held relationship with this land for generations and to recognize the historical and ongoing reality of colonialism.

Out of respect for the important work of reconciliation, we encourage you to contact us if you can suggest a way improve upon our statement above.