As Leaders Gather Behind Closed Doors, Health Advocates Are Stepping Into the Light

July 21–23, 2025 – Huntsville, Ontario
Canada’s premiers are gathering this week for the annual Council of the Federation meeting — joined in part by Prime Minister Mark Carney — to discuss pressing national issues. But while health care is one of the most urgent crises facing people across the country, the voices of patients, workers, and advocates won’t be represented inside those rooms.

That’s why health coalitions from across Canada are organizing just down the road: at the People’s Shadow Summit and Rally for Public Health Care.

This grassroots summit brings together organizers, researchers, and front-line advocates from every province to push back against the privatization of health care and call for bold public solutions. The message is clear: the health care crisis cannot be solved in secret — it requires the participation and leadership of the people most impacted.

This Shadow Summit is not symbolic — it is strategic, and deeply necessary. As our public health care system faces a national crisis of understaffing, privatization, and political inaction, advocates, organizers, and experts are coming together to demand a different path: one that puts care, equity, and public values at the center.

BC Is Showing Up Strong

The BC Health Coalition is proud to be represented at the Shadow Summit by our Director of Campaigns and Policy, Ayendri Riddell.

Ayendri will:

• Speak on behalf of BCHC during the opening plenary and media scrum;
  
  
• Present in a session titled “Breaking Medicare: The Evidence from Across Canada on For-Profit Clinics”;
  
  
• Moderate a panel called “Health Care for Profit: The Privatization of Primary Care and Virtual Care”, exploring how virtual platforms and corporate clinics are reshaping care across Canada, including right here in BC.
  
  

Ayendri will bring with her the lived realities and policy context from our province — stories from seniors navigating user fees, workers denied access to timely care, and the growing threat of corporate capture in both in-person and virtual health spaces.

A National Crisis, A Collective Response

The Shadow Summit takes place against the backdrop of a powerful joint statement issued by health coalitions from across the country. The statement calls on governments to abandon austerity and militarization, and to instead invest in what Canadians overwhelmingly support: universal, public health care.

“Any governments that claim to prioritize the economy while ignoring the collapse of health care have lost their moral compass.”
— Joint Media Advisory, Canadian Health Coalition & Ontario Health Coalition

The statement highlights the very real threats facing our system:

• Private clinics charging illegal user fees;
  
  
• Emergency departments closing due to staffing shortages;
  
  
• Seniors unable to access needed care;
  
  
• Mental health services underfunded or privatized;
  
  
• A stalled pharmacare plan that millions still desperately need.
  
  

Meanwhile, billions in public funds are being funneled into militarization and border enforcement — priorities that serve geopolitical interests over human needs.

What’s at Stake

This moment is not just about health policy — it’s about our national identity. Public health care is one of the few shared achievements that Canadians point to with pride. It reflects values of compassion, dignity, and solidarity. And it is under threat.

The Council of the Federation may happen behind closed doors, but our collective resistance is public — and growing. We are grateful to be working alongside coalitions across the country to push for bold, people-centered solutions to this crisis.

Stay tuned for updates from the Shadow Summit. We’ll be sharing reflections from Ayendri’s participation, media coverage, and what comes next in the fight to protect and strengthen public health care — in BC and across Canada.