There is much evidence that the quality of the social determinants of health Canadians experience helps explain the wide health inequalities that exist among Canadians. How long Canadians can expect to live and whether they will experience cardiovascular disease or adult-onset diabetes is very much determined by their living conditions. The same goes for the health of their children: differences among Canadian children in their surviving beyond their first year of life, experiencing childhood afflictions such as asthma and injuries, and whether they fall behind in school are strongly related to the social determinants of health they experience.