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Advocating for Brain Health During The Federal Election: Neurological Health Charities Canada

Assignment

Emerging trends in neurological research, diagnosis and treatment, as well as the realities of a post-pandemic society highlighted the urgency for an improved understanding of the neurological health of Canadians.

Neurological Health Charities Canada (NHCC) engaged Santis Health for federal government affairs and advocacy support with the overall objective to have the federal government resource a renewed National Population Level Neurological Health Survey for Canada.

What Santis Did

Santis developed a government affairs plan that advised NHCC on conducting outreach with senior-level bureaucrats across the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), Health Canada, Finance Canada and Employment and Social Development Canada. We also developed policy briefs for key officials from each political party to highlight the important of health research and data collection.

To mobilize NHCC’s members and convey key messages to candidates across the country once the writ dropped, Santis launched AdvoKit, a comprehensive online platform by Santis Health designed to streamline grassroots advocacy efforts towards federal and provincial government leaders. Backed by our counsel and support, NHCC utilized AdvoKit to activate their stakeholders and send impactful letters and social media posts directly candidates across the country. The “Brain Health Matters”campaign was brought to life through a dedicated landing page, AI-powered personalized letter writing, and the ability for users to look up their local candidates based on their location.

Outcomes

Brain Health Matters sent nearly 700 uniquely written letters to candidates across Canada, each including unique key messaging that AdvoKit dynamically tailored to each political party,

The outreach led to successfully securing meetings with officials during caretaker mode, including engagement from the Assistant Deputy Minister of Health Canada’s Strategic Policy Branch, and the Executive Vice President of PHAC.

The successful outcomes of the advocacy tools and government outreach allowed NHCC to advance its positioning and manage its objectives while continuing to develop foundational stakeholder relations with the newly elected government.

Our Work In Action