Individual surveillance systems have various public health goals and policy objectives. In recent years, the scope of, and our reliance on, surveillance systems have grown significantly in all parts of the world because of globalization and threats of multi-drug resistant bacteria, bioterrorism and pandemics. Many surveillance systems focus on the dynamic pathogens that cause infectious enteric disease in humans. In Canada, steps have been taken to successfully eliminate some of these pathogens, including endemic typhoid fever and cholera, and to significantly reduce the presence of others, including Shigella, in the human population.