Atlantic Canada has the highest cancer rates in the country, according to a new nationwide report.
The report, released Tuesday, sheds a light on the prevalence of cancer in Canada, broken down by province and spanning 25 years.
According to the Canadian Cancer Statistics 2022 special report, which was jointly released by the Canadian Cancer Society, Statistics Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada, cancer rates were highest in Atlantic Canada and Ontario between 1994 and 2018.
Specifically, the prevalence of cancer was highest in Newfoundland and Labrador, followed by New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, P.E.I., Ontario, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, in that order. Quebec was not included.
According to the report, the cancer prevalence per 100,000 people by province as of 2018 was:
5,105.3 per 100,000 (26,905 counts) for Newfoundland and Labrador
5,078.4 per 100,000 (39,045 counts) for New Brunswick
5,007.8 per 100,000 (47,825 counts) for Nova Scotia
4,655.6 per 100,000 (7,080 counts) for Prince Edward Island
A graph showing cancer prevalence per 100,000 people by province as of 2018. (Canadian Cancer Registry/Canadian Cancer Society)
Kelly Wilson Cull, the director of advocacy for the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS), says the data shows a reality of more Canadians being diagnosed and living longer-term with cancer.
“This is a prevalence report and really what this points to is an important dataset, and that’s really around how many Canadians are living with and beyond cancer in Canada today,” said Cull, during an interview with CTV News on Thursday.
“And that number is quite stark at 1.5 million, and that is an increase over the last prevalence report that was just done just under a decade ago, which pinned that number at about one million.”
Cull says the data is concerning as it shows cancer rates are increasing, but it also shows that more people are surviving the disease.
“The more concerning signal is that the number of cancers is increasing in Canada. This related to the incident rate – that shared number of people who are being diagnosed with cancer in Canada. This has a lot to do with our growing and aging population,” she said.
“The other side of the coin is a bit more optimistic, and that’s around the fact that more people are surviving cancer.”
Cull says, although it isn’t yet fully understood why cancer rates are highest in Atlantic Canada, tobacco and alcohol use could be contributing factors, in addition to an aging population.
“Then there’s another factor here around modifiable risk factors. So things like tobacco use, excess weight, alcohol consumption, would also drive higher rates of cancer in certain areas,” she said.
According to the study, most people — 60.9 per cent — who had cancer or were living post-cancer were five to 25 years out from their diagnosis. This duration accounted for the majority of people who had been diagnosed with breast, prostate and colorectal cancer – the three most prevalent types of cancers across Canada over the quarter-century.
A further 20.7 per cent were between two and five years out, and 18.4 per cent were zero to two years out.
The report also shows that cancers were generally more prevalent in rural settings compared to urban settings, over study periods of two and five years.
“We know that cancer is certainly more prevalent in rural communities, which speaks to many communities in Atlantic Canada, and so, that’s another factor that’s important to note as we look to things like system planning and how we support these 1.5 million people,” said Cull.
As a cancer advocate, Cull says the CCS is looking to all levels of government to commit to sustainable long-term equitable funding for health systems that prioritize a targeted funding stream for cancer care.
“This prevalence report is coming out at a really important time because it really speaks to the huge volume of Canadians that are living with and beyond cancer in our society today … And every day we’re hearing about health-care challenges, health system crunch, health human resources, really existing in a system that feels very unsustainable right now,” she said.
As far as what Atlantic Canada needs most, based off the prevalence report, Cull says health human resources is one of the main issues.
“We need to ensure that there is enough trained specialists across that practice to be able to support, in our case we’re talking about cancer,” she said. “So, health human resources is certainly a factor, but we’re also really interested in what innovation in the cancer space looks like. How can we be looking at innovative practices? How can we be supporting research that helps to better understand cancer so that we can change the projectory of how cancer shows up in our communities moving forward.”
According to Cull, the CCS has invested over $640 million in the last 10 years into cancer research.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
