A Strategy for Men and Boys Must Connect Health, Relationships and Violence Prevention

Sector News & Perspectives
Written By Dr. Jeff St. John & Ryan Valley

Canada is developing its first Federal Men and Boys’ Health and Well-being Strategy. This is a significant opportunity to improve how our health and social systems understand, reach and support men and boys throughout their lives.

It is also an opportunity to stop treating men's wellbeing and violence prevention as separate - or competing - agendas. A credible strategy must support men and boys earlier while remaining connected to the work of preventing gender-based violence and strengthening safety in families, relationships and communities.

The initiative is still under development. Health Canada completed a national engagement process in June 2026 after receiving more than 5,000 questionnaire responses and hundreds of written and roundtable contributions. A “What We Heard” report is expected later in fall 2026, followed by the federal strategy in early 2027.

For Men &, the strategy represents a welcome and much needed step. It also raises an important question: how can Canada take this opportunity to make meaningful improvements in the lives of men and their loved ones?

Why a focused strategy is needed

Men and boys are not a single or uniform group. Their health is shaped by age, income, culture, geography, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, relationships, work, education and access to community. Indigenous, Black and other racialized men, 2SLGBTQIA+ men and boys, veterans, first responders, men in rural and northern communities, men experiencing homelessness and those involved in the justice system may encounter distinct risks and barriers.

Even with that diversity, national data reveal persistent patterns. In 2024, life expectancy at birth was 80.0 years for males and 84.3 years for females. Statistics Canada has also reported that the rate of death from preventable causes was more than twice as high among males as females in 2021.

The disparities extend beyond life expectancy. Health Canada reports that men experience higher rates of premature death, suicide, substance-related harms, some chronic diseases and gambling problems. Approximately 70 per cent of opioid-related deaths are among males. Men are also less likely to engage with primary and preventive care, and 65 per cent wait more than six days after symptoms begin before consulting a physician.

These outcomes cannot be explained by biology or individual choices alone. Service hours, cost, geography, previous experiences, stigma, cultural safety and whether services are designed to recognize how distress may appear in men all affect when and how people seek help.

A strong strategy must therefore move beyond telling men to speak up. It must also make systems easier to enter, more responsive and better connected.

Better connected also means connected across policy portfolios. The federal Men and Boys' Health and Well-being Strategy should not develop as a parallel track to Canada's National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence. The two have different mandates, but they meet upstream - in healthy relationships, gender norms, isolation and belonging, help-seeking, digital culture, community safety and the capacity to intervene before harm escalates.

Health is more than the absence of illness

The federal consultation recognized physical, mental and social well-being, along with the influence of relationships, education, employment and major life transitions.

That broader view matters. Health can be affected when a young person leaves school, a worker is injured, a new father feels isolated, a relationship ends, employment is lost or someone enters retirement without a strong sense of connection. These moments can increase vulnerability, but they are also opportunities for earlier support.

Social connection is especially important. Supportive relationships, a sense of belonging and trusted people to turn to can help protect health. Isolation can deepen distress and make it harder to take a next step.

This is why effective action will need to reach beyond clinics. Schools, workplaces, sports, cultural organizations, neighbourhood networks, community groups and families all have a role to play. So do accessible digital tools, peer supports, service navigation and opportunities to build practical relationship and self-regulation skills.

Support for men is not a zero-sum commitment

A focus on men and boys does not replace or diminish the essential work being done to advance women’s health, gender equality or the health of 2SLGBTQIA+ communities. Health Canada has explicitly described the new strategy as complementary to women’s health efforts.

That principle should remain central. Supporting men and boys and preventing gender-based violence are not rival commitments.

Some of the conditions that contribute to poor outcomes for boys and men—rigid gender norms, isolation, trauma, stigma around vulnerability and environments that reward dominance or aggression—also appear in pathways to interpersonal harm. That does not mean distress causes violence, and it does not make men's wellbeing merely instrumental to other people's safety. It means earlier support and violence prevention share important upstream terrain.

Work with men must therefore support wellbeing, accountability and safety together. The goal is not to excuse harm or present men only as victims. Nor should men be defined primarily as risks or problems to be corrected. Effective engagement recognizes both dignity and responsibility: people can access support without shame while remaining accountable for the effects of their actions.

What does success look like?

Men & supports the development of a federal strategy and believes its success should be measured by what changes after publication.

From our perspective, six elements will be essential.

First, the strategy must connect awareness to action. Public conversations can reduce stigma, but awareness alone does not ensure that someone can find appropriate help when it matters. Campaigns should lead to clear, trustworthy pathways into tools, community support, primary care, counselling, crisis response and other services.

Second, it should make dignity-centred engagement a practical service standard. Men should not be blamed for every delay in seeking help. Governments and service providers must also examine whether existing systems are accessible, culturally safe, responsive and able to retain people after their first contact.

Third, the strategy should address mental, relational and social health together. Distress often intersects with conflict, isolation, work, fatherhood, family transitions, substance use, experiences of violence and concerns about one’s own behaviour. Fragmented responses can leave people moving between services without a clear path forward.

Fourth, the strategy must name violence prevention as a health and community-safety outcome. This does not mean treating distress as a predictor of violence or approaching all men as risks. It means recognizing that healthy relationships, consent, emotional and relational skills, responsibility for impact, early response to harmful behaviour and effective pathways for men concerned about their own actions belong within the strategy. A men's health strategy that treats violence prevention as someone else's portfolio will reproduce the policy gap the co-authored op-ed warned against.

Fifth, implementation must be community-based. The federal government can provide leadership, research, funding, standards and accountability, but many services are delivered provincially, territorially, locally and through Indigenous governments and organizations. Community groups and informal supporters are often the first places where a man is noticed, invited into conversation or connected with help.

Finally, the strategy needs measurable commitments. The current federal information establishes goals and a timeline, but it does not yet present a detailed implementation budget, outcome targets or public reporting framework. A credible strategy should identify responsibilities, resources, milestones and measures of progress, including whether people facing the greatest barriers are actually benefiting.

The opportunity ahead

Canada now has an opportunity to build a more coordinated approach to men’s and boys’ health: one that responds earlier, recognizes diversity, strengthens relationships and makes appropriate help easier to find.

The publication of a federal strategy will be an important milestone, but it will not be the finish line. Its real value will depend on whether governments, health systems, community organizations and people with lived experience can turn it into sustained action.

Men & will continue to build a violence-prevention-first approach, grounded in dignity and centred on relational health: meeting men at different levels of readiness, creating practical pathways to support, and holding safety, accountability, healing and repair in view.

When men and boys can find the right next step before challenges become crises, the benefits extend well beyond the individual. Families are better supported, relationships have more opportunity to heal, workplaces become healthier and communities become safer and more connected.

References

Dr. Jeff St. John & Ryan Valley https://www.forgecentre.com
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