It’s the first official meeting for Hamilton’s new semi-autonomous Board of Health following the enacting of legislation amending the City of Hamilton Act to permit Council to appoint a mixed council-citizen board.
The meeting begins at 9:30 a.m.
Here’s the agenda link and the link to watch on YouTube.
Governing Structure Bylaws
The new Board will conduct housekeeping business to enact their government bylaws.
One of those bylaws, Board of Health compensation, is drawing criticism as it proposes to set a per meeting pay of $200 and permit city councillors to double-dip by receiving extra pay for chairing the Board.
The $200 will be the top in Ontario. All other Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area municipal politicians are prohibited from receiving extra pay for Board of Health duties.
Wastewater Surveillance Testing
At the January 12 Public Health Sub-Committee meeting, a motion was passed for a report on the feasibility of the City of Hamilton funding wastewater surveillance for public health disease tracking.
Staff recommend against doing so at this time.
“Wastewater surveillance is a feasible tool that has been used alongside traditional clinical testing but is not considered essential to assess local infectious disease transmission at the local or provincial level,” reads a report written by the manager of infection prevention & control and outbreaks.
“Given limited financial resources, it would be reasonable to not invest at this time in a local wastewater surveillance program until ongoing research provides clearer guidance on its most effective use, or as a part of participation of a larger overall surveillance system coordinated at a higher level of government. Waiting for evidence-based recommendations will help ensure that any future implementation is both cost-effective and aligned with public health needs at the local level.”
Embedding Health Equity Methods and Analysis across Hamilton Public Health Reporting
At the April 28 Public Health Sub-Committee meeting the members unanimously passed a motion to have “health equity data in all future health reports where immediately applicable” included in all public health reports.
The manager of Hamilton’s public health epidemiology & evaluation program states in a memo that all future reports to the Board of Health will include a subsection titled “Health Equity Data.”
Production Details
v. 1.0.0
Published: July 6, 2025
Last updated: July 6, 2025
Author: Joey Coleman
Update Record
v. 1.0.0 original version