The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has appointed its fifth president in as many years, with Nancy Hamzawi stepping into the $296,000-a-year role. This follows a string of controversies exposing mismanagement, from pandemic unpreparedness to the hiring of suspected Chinese spies at Canada’s high-security lab in Winnipeg.

Hamzawi, previously a climate program manager at Environment Canada, replaces retiring president Heather Jeffrey. Three previous presidents abruptly resigned before completing their terms, as reported by Blacklock’s.

Cabinet appoints 5th Public Health Agency president in 5 yrs (right) after admitting Covid bungling & "naivete or incompetence" in hiring suspected China spies at hi-security lab.  https://t.co/Jmm1FNnO0U #cdnpoli@GovCanHealth pic.twitter.com/NmlTYX6q2v

— Blacklock's Reporter (@mindingottawa) June 24, 2025

Created in 2004 post-SARS to bolster pandemic readiness, PHAC was touted as a global leader in 2020 by then-prime minister Justin Trudeau. With a $675 million budget and 4,995 staff, the agency even awarded each employee a commemorative medallion in 2022 for “pandemic relief efforts.”

The brass nickel-plated tokens and their blue velvet presentation boxes were estimated at $16 per employee, with a total cost of $120,000 approved by then-PHAC president Harpreet Kochhar in June 2021.

Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam claimed victimhood last month, citing online harassment during the COVID-19 response. But exclusive government documents show how this was self-inflicted.https://t.co/1KcokB20U3 pic.twitter.com/xO9voCInXz

— Tamara Ugolini 🇨🇦 (@TamaraUgo) January 4, 2024

Yet, a 2024 report revealed PHAC ignored warnings of an inevitable pandemic, discarded nearly nine million items of personal protective equipment, and failed to address systemic flaws in its National Emergency Strategic Stockpile.

More alarmingly, PHAC overlooked red flags about its chief vaccine researcher at Winnipeg’s National Microbiology Laboratory, who maintained secret ties to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s bioweapons program.

Former CSIS director David Vigeault discusses “cognitive warfare” in terms of foreign interference and how it has evolved into “leveraging new approaches in psychology”

As governments increasingly rely on “behavioural science” to shape and manipulate their citizens to comply… pic.twitter.com/Hk2xQOjVfl

— Tamara Ugolini 🇨🇦 (@TamaraUgo) September 30, 2024

Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, an agency biologist, were fired in 2021. The decision came three years after the agency first learned of espionage concerns with the duo — claims that dated all the way back to 2013.

The Prime Minister’s Office insists a “strong and effective public service” is key to a stronger Canada, but sidestepped questions about PHAC’s disarray.

Canadians deserve better than a revolving door of leadership and excuses. How can an agency tasked with safeguarding public health fail so spectacularly at both preparedness and national security?

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