s we look back over the last century, we can take pride in the advances we have made in improving the of Canadi- ans and in establishing an effective public approach that to this day continues to be an influential and driving force in Canada and around the world. Over the past 100 years, our discipline has evolved. We have pro- gressed from a purely reactionary practice that confronted infec- tious diseases only in the face of outbreaks, to one that responds to crises while at the same time proactively promoting and protecting health. Today we look past poor as a stand-alone problem and are moving toward a better understanding of how to address what Sir Michael Marmot would call the of the causes, 1 These events, in addition to the high incidence of polio at the time, laid the groundwork for contemporary concepts of public health. Canada began to strengthen its social fabric and focused on social improvements such as construction of new housing and the provision of education to returning soldiers and their families. Canada's first Food Guide was born out of the need to reduce nutri- tional deficiencies resulting from war-time food rationing. Mean- while, the notion of social and economic factors impacting became more pervasive and influenced the development of many broad social programs from which we still benefit today, including the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security. The post-war period also brought unique public chal- lenges. People were living longer which meant chronic diseases and injury became the more common causes of death. New trends emerged, including widespread smoking, drinking, recreational drug use and a resurgence of sexually transmitted infections. More automobiles led to decreased physical activity and more air pollu- tion. However, public experts explored the causes of these trends with a view to prevention. This important work identified associations between smoking and lung cancer; diet, physical exer- cise and heart disease; seatbelt use and road traffic injuries; and air pollution and worsening asthmatic conditions. In the 1970s and 1980s, as the care system saw improve- ments through the passing of the Canada Health Act, which ensured comprehensive, universal and accessible insured coverage to all Canadians, the concept of promotion was further developed. The 1974 landmark report, New Perspectives on the Health of Canadians, from then-Minister of Health Marc Lalonde got us thinking, as a country, about population health, and how public health was so much more than just good care. Just over a decade later, Achieving Health for All: A Framework for Health Promotion (1986) was tabled by then-Minister of Health Jake Epp. This report placed greater focus on the determinants of and identified income-related inequalities as an area for priority action. It also brought to the forefront the notion that was not just a by-product of personal choices, but of environmental influences as well. These reports, as well as the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, resulted in important advances in the and promotion field - such as the establishment of breast- feeding as a cultural norm and new regulations on the manufac- ture, sale, labelling and promotion of tobacco - and helped to cement Canada's influence in changing the global paradigm on public approaches. In the late 1990s, the increasing burden of HIV infections and an outbreak of invasive meningococcal disease reminded Canada