Canada’s Health Minister and Chief Nurse to speak at ICN Congress in July

The Honourable Jean Yves Duclos, Minister for Health for Canada, and Dr Leigh Chapman, Chief Nursing Officer for Canada will speak at the International Council of Nurses’ (ICN) Congress to be held in Montreal, Canada, 1-5 July 2023, in partnership with the Canadian Nurses Association.

The world’s largest international nursing congress will bring together thousands of nurses across the world to discuss the most pressing challenges and innovative solutions to health.

ICN President Dr Pamela Cipriano welcomed the two Canadian health experts, saying:

“The ICN Congress in Montreal will be a truly amazing event for Canadian nurses as well as international nurses. We are delighted that Minister Duclos and Dr Chapman, leaders in the field of health in Canada, will be joining us and sharing their knowledge and insight.”

Minister Duclos has been the Member of Parliament for Québec since 2015 and has previously served as President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Families, Children and Social Development. He is a well-published author, conference speaker and economics expert. Prior to 2015, he was the Director of the Department of Economics and a tenured professor at the Université Laval. In addition to his professorial duties, Minister Duclos held the former Industrial Alliance Research Chair on the Economics of Demographic Change (now the Research Chair in Intergenerational Economics), served as President-Elect of the Canadian Economics Association, and was a member of the Institut sur le vieillissement et la participation sociale des aînés.

Dr Leigh Chapman was appointed as Chief Nursing Officer for Canada in August 2022, after many years of advocacy by the Canadian Nurses Association. Dr Chapman’s nursing career has spanned almost 20 years, and in that time she has gained a deep understanding of nursing through a variety of clinical leadership positions in home and community care, research, academic, regulatory, and professional practice environments. Her background in direct service provision includes critical care, community care, as well as education in professional associations. Most recently, Dr Chapman was the Director of Clinical Services with Inner City Health Associates in Toronto. Her work there encompassed strategic, operational, and clinical oversight of the nursing programme for the care of people experiencing homelessness who were affected by COVID-19 in Toronto. As the senior nurse executive responsible for developing, launching and overseeing the programme, she cultivated the ability to nurture a culture of nursing practice grounded in health equity that is trauma-informed, low barrier, anti-oppressive and harm reduction focused.

With over 5,000 delegates already registered for the Congress, one-day passes are also now available! ICN encourages Canadian nurses to attend the plenary session on 3 July, Navigating Canada’s healthcare evolution: a journey towards excellence and equity where Minister Duclos will be the keynote speaker. Dr Chapman will speak at the plenary session on 4 July, How great leaders inspire action.

A full list of confirmed Congress speakers can be found here.

Further information and regular updates on the Congress programme are available on the Congress website: https://icncongress2023.org/

Download the press release here