The central objective of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) is to gather health-related data at the sub-provincial levels of geography (health region or combined health regions).

The CCHS is a cross-sectional survey that collects information related to health status, health care utilization and health determinants for the Canadian population. The CCHS operates on a two-year collection cycle. The first year of the survey cycle ".1" is a large sample, general population health survey, designed to provide reliable estimates at the health region level. The second year of the survey cycle ".2" has a smaller sample and is designed to provide provincial level results on specific focused health topics.