Ottawa turns to faith leaders as measles cases surge

 — Dec. 2, 20252 déc. 2025

The Public Health Agency of Canada is trying to strengthen trust and improve engagement in communities with low vaccination rates.

The Public Health Agency of Canada has reached out to Canadian faith groups, asking them to share information about measles with their members.

The agency made its request to the Canadian Council of Churches, the Canadian Interfaith Conversation, and the Canadian Multifaith Federation, three organisations that represent a wide range of faith groups.

The agency’s request followed a roundtable with faith leaders hosted by the Public Health Agency of Canada on Sept. 16.

The request comes as Canada grapples with a measles outbreak primarily concentrated in under-vaccinated communities across Canada that often have significant faith populations or strong anti-vaccine sentiment.

This year, Canada has had more than 5,000 confirmed cases of measles, up from no cases during the pandemic years. For context, the U.S., with nearly ten times the population, has had 1,700 confirmed cases this year.

The Public Health Agency of Canada reached out to faith group leaders because they are seen as trustworthy by their members, said Nicolas Janveau, a communications officer for the Public Health Agency of Canada. At the same time, the agency also wanted to learn from faith leaders about the most effective ways to engage their communities.

“The aim of our engagement with faith leaders is to share knowledge, strengthen trust, and explore proactive approaches to measles prevention,” Janveau said.

“[The agency] regularly engages with a range of partners and interest holders, including faith-based and community organisations, as part of its routine public health outreach,” he added.

By engaging faith leaders, the agency “aims to enable communities to make informed decisions and prevent outbreaks from occurring or escalating,” he said.

Peter Noteboom is General Secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches, which has 24 member denominations. For Noteboom, outreach from the public health agency shows the government understands faith groups remain an important way to reach many Canadians.

“They see us as a way to get their health messages out,” he said. “They realise that many Canadians still have a level of trust with their faith groups.”

Sharing the message about measles is appropriate for faith groups because religion “is about health and healing,” he said. “As faith groups, we have a role to play in sharing this message.”

The agency’s message has been circulated to the council’s members, he said, with a request to share it with their churches.

For Richard Chambers, a volunteer with the Canadian Interfaith Conversation, the outreach from the agency shows how serious the issue is in Canada now.

“My personal take is that local public health units are working flat out this year to contain the measles outbreak in Canada, and are asking for help from other civil society organisations to point people to reliable information,” he said.

Chambers noted parallels to the pandemic, when then-prime minister Justin Trudeau held a Zoom roundtable with about 350 faith leaders about ways faith groups could respond to the pandemic.

“I think they remembered that event, so reached out again to see how faith groups could assist with the measles outbreak,” Chambers said. The Canadian Interfaith Conversation is sharing the message with its 62 member groups.

In making the request to faith groups, the Public Health Agency of Canada asked them to tailor it to their communities.

“In an interfaith context, it would be too hard to come up with one message for everyone,” Chambers said.

Measles cases have predominantly affected unvaccinated individuals, according to government data. Vaccination against measles, mumps and rubella fell from 89.5 per cent of the population in 2019 to 82.5 per cent in 2023, according to government data. For a highly contagious disease like measles, coverage rates need to be as high as 95 per cent to prevent outbreaks.

Posted: Dec. 2, 2025 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=14718
Categories: News • In this article: Canadian Council of Churches, Canadian Interfaith Conversation, Canadian Multifaith Federation, Government of Canada, vaccines Transmis : 2 déc. 2025 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=14718
Catégorie : News • Dans cet article : Canadian Council of Churches, Canadian Interfaith Conversation, Canadian Multifaith Federation, Government of Canada, vaccines