The Dominion Council of Health was established by the federal government in 1919. It provided an opportunity for discussion on a wide range of health subjects by top health officials from all of the provinces. This unit consists of the files of the Provincial Health Officer relating to the meetings of the Dominion Council of Health. The records include agendas, minutes and background papers, for some years but not every year. The meetings were held twice a year, spring and winter.

The series consists of executive correspondence and committee records created and received by the division responsible for strategic policy, legislation, and intergovernmental relations of the Ministry of Health Services (2001-2005) and the Ministry of Health from 1988-2001. The executive correspondence provides evidence of the interaction between the public and ministry executive regarding significant health service issues. The correspondence was sent by members of the public to Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Assistant Deputy Ministers; drafts were prepared by ministry staff for executive review and approval. This series also documents the functions and activities of major cross-jurisdictional committees such as the Advisory committee on Health Services, the Federal/Provincial/Territorial conference of the Ministers of Health, the Advisory committee on Population Health and Health Security, the Health Council of Canada, and the Minister's Advisory committee on Ethical Issues in Health Care. These records provide evidence of the ministry's role in these committees and its position on national health service delivery issues.

The correspondence files are arranged by executive creating office or topic and date; the committee files are arranged by committee/conference name and date. The records consist of correspondence, correspondence assignment forms, briefing materials, meeting and conference materials, reports, memoranda, drafts, and project files. Each file is assigned an Administrative Records Classification System (100001) file code, predominantly ARCS 280-30 executive correspondence referral replies and ARCS 206 committees and commissions – inter-provincial/federal.