Canada. Nutrition Division : In October and November 1937, preliminary steps were taken by the Department of Pensions and National Health to form a National Council on Nutrition. This Council was to be formed in response to the need for some central authority, with special responsibility, to utilize the results of modern progress in the sciences of nutrition and agriculture in so far as they affected the health of the nation.
The duties of the Council were to promote eating practices leading to health, fitness and well-being and to find out whether Canadians were eating the proper foods. The Council was to advise the department, other federal agencies, provincial governments and professional and commercial organizations in general areas of research, education and the practical application of knowledge about nutrition. The Council was responsible for the study of the nutritional status and food-consuming habits of urban and rural Canada, outlining standard methods of collecting data in surveys of food consumption, in setting up nutritional standards for Canada, for interpreting these standards in terms of specific foods, collecting information on nutritional value of Canadian foods and for collecting information regarding nutrition, and to co-ordinate studies and research pertaining to nutrition in Canada. Other duties of the Council included dietary research in other countries and applying the results to the Canadian standards, informing the public of proper nutrition and collaborating in the nutritional work of the Health Secretariat of the League of Nations.
The Canadian Council on Nutrition was formed in 1938 and confirmed in its roles and functions by Order in Council (P.C. 11144, 8 December 1942). The Council, chaired by the Chief of the Nutrition Division of the Department of National Health and Welfare, was "to assist and advise the Minister [of National Health and Welfare] on matters relating to the state of nutrition of the people of Canada". Its membership consisted of representatives from the provinces, professional associations, and universities. The Dominion-Provincial Committee on Nutrition, whose membership was composed of a nutritionist from each province and staff of the Nutrition Division, was a sub-committee of the Council.
In 1969, the Directorate of Child and Adult Health Services was established to govern the Nutrition, Child and Maternal Health, Dental Health, Mental Health, Health Education and Smoking and Health Divisions. The Canadian Council on Nutrition ceased to function during the fiscal year 1969-1970, at which time the Nutrition Division and the Dominion-Provincial Committee on Nutrition became part of the newly-formed Child and Adult Health Division. The latter division itself ceased to exist in 1971.
