Updating the core competencies for public health in Canada: Feminist community-based study

OBJECTIVES: The 2008 core competencies for the public health in Canada were used extensively however were outdated. Our objective was to determine and conduct a consultation and engagement process to update the core competencies. This study describes the approach and methods used. METHODS: Feminist community-based research informed the multiple methods used to gather explicit and tacit expertise on essential knowledge, skills, and attitudes for the updated competencies. Recommendations from published literature were adapted for project governance, literature reviews, engagement, and integration of feedback on competency statements based on principles of reflection, reflexivity, equity, and transparency. RESULTS: More than 2300 members of the public health community contributed to updating the core competencies via in-person and virtual engagement sessions. Participants were from every province and territory and a range of public health disciplines, roles, and system levels, with a focus on integrating Indigenous and Black Health Leaders' perspectives. Over 2200 comments and edits received informed successive competency drafts. CONCLUSION: The updated core competencies incorporate timely issues, such as climate change and planetary health, for evidence-informed public health practice and policy. They emphasize the importance of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis approaches and ways of knowing, of integrating Black Health and anti-Black racism, as well as grounding values of health equity, social justice, and accountability in public health practice and policy. This manuscript adds to the international body of knowledge on methods for modernizing core competencies for public health workforce development and training.