Help us get better at palliative care

We believe that everyone in Canada should have a right to access affordable, culturally safe, high-quality palliative care regardless of where they live and in what setting they choose to receive care.

Everyone deserves care that provides comfort, dignity, and choice when facing a serious illness. Palliative care achieves this by helping to manage symptoms, minimize pain and maximize comfort. Quality palliative care leads to better outcomes for people and their families and has the potential to reduce healthcare costs and take pressure off of the healthcare system.

VO: The first time I heard the word “palliative,”

The camera shows a close up of a healthcare worker applying an alcohol swab on an arm.

VO: I always thought that means you’re dying.

The camera cuts to another angle of the woman receiving the alcohol swab on her bare arm to prepare for a medical procedure.

VO: But that’s really not what it is.

A woman looks over her right shoulder while reversing her car.

VO: I didn’t know...

Her young son is sitting in the passenger seat.

VO: ...that it was about developing treatment...

A woman is sitting on a park bench, back facing the camera, overlooking a park. In the distance, a city is in view. She pets her Golden Retriever dog, who sits beside her on the park bench.

The camera switches to a close up shot of the woman as she looks over her shoulder.

VO: ...goals to help someone live well.

A visually-impaired young boy in a helmet and wrist guards skateboards inside an indoor skate park, holding the hands of an adult young man who is helping him balance on his skateboard.

The camera cuts to an angle above the floor, where just the feet and legs of the young boy on the skateboard and the adult young man are visible as he runs beside him.

VO: Being able to go to yoga. Being able to find...

An older woman walks outside across the snow as two large black dogs walk in front of her, towards a large grey building.

VO: ...an art class.

The camera cuts to a close up shot of a colourful painting being painted with a small brush.

VO: All of those pieces are palliative.

A woman stands over the kitchen table, watching her young adult daughter mix ingredients in a bowl. The camera cuts to an angle to watch the young adult daughter pour the mixture from the mixing bowl into an oven dish. Her mother's hands are visible as she holds the oven dish.

VO: I probably wouldn’t be here...

A woman with a blue surgical mask over her face looks off into the distance.

VO: ...if I didn’t have these people helping me.

A close up of the woman flipping through old, developed photos. In the photos, two adult men are grinning at the camera, one holding a “thumbs up”.

VO: Everyone should have that level of care.

The same woman speaks to a doctor outside, backs facing the camera, and both are wearing masks. The camera cuts to a close up of the doctor, engaged in conversation with the woman.

Words on screen:

Palliative care lets you focus on what matters, when it matters most.

Let’s make sure everyone in Canada gets better care.

Cancer.ca/palliativecare

A message from

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While most Canadians support guaranteed access to publicly funded palliative care, too many still face barriers or go without entirely. People often only get referred to palliative care too late and not where they would prefer to get it, like their home or at a hospice in their community. Access can vary widely by geography and is all too often out of reach for people from underserved populations, such as rural and remote communities, First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples, and unhoused populations.

Send a letter to your elected officials

We can come together to call on all governments in Canada to recognize palliative care as a right. Join us by sending a letter to your provincial and federal elected officials. The more people that take action, the more governments will listen.

Palliative care lets you focus on what matters, when it matters most

We all want to live our lives as positively and as meaningfully as possible, right up to the end. Learn more about how palliative care has impacted people’s lives – which is why we feel so strongly that governments need to act so everyone who needs palliative care, gets it.

Boni's Story

Words on screen:

Everyone in Canada has a right to palliative care.

This is Boni’s story.

VO: First time I heard the word palliative, I thought that means you're dying.

A healthcare worker applies an alcohol swab on Boni’s arm.

VO: No palliative care is about the living and about the quality of life.

A health care worker holds an IV tube

VO: And if that means being able to talk to other individuals,

Boni sits while she receives a treatment.

VO: that have metastatic breast cancer, that's part of it.

Fluid drains from a pleural effusion into a medical bottle.

VO: The palliative piece of care is so essential for people like me that don't live in a major city.

Boni’s husband looking on caringly as his wife receives treatment.

The camera cuts to the health care worker taking the IV tube away from her arm.

VO: Having counseling, having home care come into my home,

Boni, her husband, and her health care worker have a jovial conversation.

VO: That’s important.

Boni holds a baby in a black and white photo on her fridge

VO: It means I can also benefit from being around my family because those services are in my community.

The camera shows Boni in various photos from her son’s wedding on a black wall with a white tree design

VO: I’m able to travel out to have my art classes,

Boni walks after her two black dogs outside in her yard with a light dusting of snow

VO: go to the local coffee shop and have coffee with a friend,

Boni and her two black dogs walk toward a building with a red door

VO: I can go outside, go see my grandchildren

Boni and her granddaughter walk with two yellow sleds on a rope, with her husband accompanying them

VO: but without it,

Boni’s granddaughter pulls her sled.

VO: that life would look really really staid, and I don't think I'd be as healthy as I am.

Boni with her granddaughter in her lap sleds down the hill toward her husband.

The camera cuts to Boni hugging her granddaughter outside.

VO: But every time I go to a blank piece of paper, that paint brush in the water allow me to have texture and colour in my life.

The camera shows a series of close-ups of Boni wearing glasses, painting a picture with water, her brushes, then her paints

VO: There's good and bad, and the darkness makes the light look brighter.

The camera shows Boni painting, first her brush along the paper, and then a shot of her focusing as she paints

VO: And the palliative piece

Boni uses an ink dropper to add more colour to her painting

VO: allows you to focus on the light.

Boni’s granddaughter and husband sled down the hill.

The camera cuts to Boni laughing and clapping.

Words on screen:

Palliative care lets you focus on what matters, when it matters most.

Let’s make sure everyone in Canada gets better care.

Cancer.ca/palliativecare

A message from

CCS Logo

Rob's Story

Words on screen:

Everyone in Canada has a right to palliative care.

This is Rob’s story.

Dr. Nadine Persaud’s VO: Robert Boast is one of those patients that you will never forget.

Dr. Nadine Persaud walks up the stairs at Kensington hospice.

Caroline’s VO: Everyone that met Rob, really liked Rob.

The camera shows a closeup of Caroline, and then shows the photos she is holding, first of Rob and another man smiling, then of Rob in a yellow shirt dancing

Caroline’s VO: He has two beautiful daughters.

The camera cuts back to Caroline looking at the photos while seated on a couch.

Caroline’s VO: He was my best friend.

Caroline holds a photo of Rob and a woman when Rob were younger.

Dr. Persaud’s VO: Robert came to us from Manitoulin Island. He was experiencing homelessness.

The camera shows a bed with a quilt on it, and then a red pork pie hat with a black band, a vintage eagle clasp, and a feather Caroline had made for Rob.

Caroline’s VO: And I said Rob, you're going to a place where you're going to have your own room. It gave him peace of mind that he was in a nice place,

The camera shows Caroline from behind, walking to the door of the room, and then running her hand along the door number, 210.

Caroline’s VO: and people cared for him,

Caroline walks around a bed, and run her hand along the quilt

Caroline’s VO: and he wasn’t going to die alone.

Dr. Persaud walks through the kitchen of the hospice, with stained glass windows in the background

Dr. Persaud’s VO: Our team rallied around him and we made it feel like home and he became really comfortable with us.

Dr. Persaud and Caroline walk along a path and then have a conversation on a bench outside the hospice.

Caroline’s VO: I used to just play music and dance around his room,

Carolyn looks off into the distance.

Caroline’s VO: and talk and talk and talk,

Carolyn’s hands rest on the quilt on the bed she is sitting on

Caroline’s VO: and I actually wouldn't change that time that I had with Rob for anything.

Carolyn sits on the bed looking off into the distance.

Caroline’s VO: It was wonderful.

Caroline looks straight at the camera

Caroline’s VO: He belonged to the Eagle clan.

Caroline looks at an old photo of Rob when he was a teenager

Caroline’s VO: His spirit name was Two Hawks.

Caroline flips from that photo to a photo of Rob dancing with someone

Caroline’s VO: When Rob passed away, they let me smudge the room, they helped me put Sage and Cedar in his pockets, so when he got cremated, he would go to beyond.

Caroline looks at the photos.

Caroline’s VO: Everyone has the right to die with dignity.

Caroline holds up the earlier photo of Rob dancing while wearing a yellow shirt.

Words on screen:

Palliative care lets you focus on what matters, when it matters most.

Let’s make sure everyone in Canada gets better care.

Cancer.ca/palliativecare

A message from

CCS Logo

Elaine's Story

Words on screen:

Everyone in Canada has a right to palliative care.

This is Elaine’s story.

VO: So my mom was my everything

The camera shows a white screen

VO: She was a single mom and she worked really hard to make sure that we were provided for and cared for and loved.

Elaine’s daughter Kim runs her hands along a quilt that had been made for her Mother.

The camera cuts to a framed photo of Elaine, her kids and her grandkids outside by Lake Ontario.

VO: And the palliative team that we worked with,

Kim looks down.

VO: came into my home,

The camera shows a stained-glass robin on a branch in front of a candle, and some glasses, on a side table

VO: and for a year

The camera shows some flowers in a jar with some water and a painted picture of a dog

VO: they made themselves a part of our family's life.

Kim looks at a photo album of older photos of Elaine holding a baby

VO: It was seamless. All their treatment decisions, their recommendations about what my mom needed,

Kim flips through the photo album looking at family photos

VO: were all orientated to what my mom's wishes were.

Kim sits on the couch with the album, with her dog on the couch beside her, and her Mom’s quilt on the coffee table in front of her.

VO: When I look back on it, I realize that that is one of the unexpected gifts of palliative care at home. Palliative care meant that I could be fully available for my mother.

Kim leaves her house to take her dog on a walk.

The camera cuts to Kim walking her dog in a park in Toronto.

VO: I had the support that I needed, She had the support she needed,

Kim sits on a park bench, back facing the camera, overlooking a park. In the distance, Toronto is in view.
She pets her Golden Retriever dog, who sits beside her on the park bench.

VO: and we could create really special memories and times together.

The camera switches to a close up shot of Kim as she looks over her shoulder.

VO: One of the things they did was they helped her curate and collect her recipes into a cookbook.

The camera shows a kitchen table with a well-used muffin tin, a cookbook with a photo of Elaine bound with a black metal spiral, a tea towel, and cooking implements

VO: It meant the way she showed love and care

Kim’s young adult daughter peels a slice of green appleVO: throughout her whole life

Kim reviews the recipe as Kim’s daughter continues to peel the apple

VO: that that legacy could be passed on to us.

Kim sorts through the apple slices that have been peeled.

The camera cuts to Kim standing over the kitchen table, watching her daughter mix ingredients in a bowl.

VO: In our hectic busy world,

The camera cuts to an angle to watch Kim’s daughter pour the mixture from the mixing bowl into an oven dish that Kim is holding.

VO: When you have the gift to sit with someone while they're passing for a year,

Kim’s daughter puts the apple crumble into the oven

VO: You see life in a different way.

The camera cuts to a shot of Kim and her daughter from outside of the house looking into the kitchen window while Kim and her daughter do dishes. In the window, you see a cactus, a crucifix, and a small purple neon heart.

Words on screen:

Palliative care lets you focus on what matters, when it matters most.

Let’s make sure everyone in Canada gets better care.

Cancer.ca/palliativecare

A message from

CCS Logo

Ollie's Story

Words on screen:

Everyone in Canada has a right to palliative care.

This is Ollie’s story.

Ollie’s VO: I was seven when I first got diagnosed.

Dawn’s VO (Ollie’s Mom): He was your average kid.

The camera shows a close-up of Ollie’s hands as he plays with Lego

Dawn’s VO: We really had very little indication that he was sick.

Ollie plays with Lego at the table in his playroom while his guide dog watches, with a large teddy bear and other toys in the background

Ollie’s VO: I had chemo, radiation,

The camera shows a support beam near the ceiling of a room, with three signs that say “Beware of Dog Kisses”, “Skateboarding Dr.”, and “Little Man Cave, No girls Allowed (except Mommy!)”

Ollie’s VO: stem cell transplants, a whole ton of procedures happened to me

The camera shows various action figures from multiple angles

Ollie’s VO: and then I went blind and I had to learn everything up from the ground again.

Ollie, holding a white cane, and Dawn leave their house and walk to their car

Dawn’s VO: And so all these things just rapidly start to happen.

Dawn looks over her right shoulder while reversing her car, and then the camera cuts to Ollie sitting in the passenger seat as the car begins to advance

Dawn’s VO: A big part of the entire journey

Dawn watches something while sitting in the kitchen

Dawn’s VO: both as the caregiver, and certainly as the patient is there's a lot of feelings of powerlessness, and I think palliative care is one of those things that can actually help with that.

Ollie uses his braille writing machine as Dawn watches, and then reads the braille he has produced with his finger

Dawn’s VO: They have this incredible ability to treat,

Dawn reviews his work with her finger

Dawn’s VO: In this case, sick kids as though they're just normal kid -

Ollie continues to use his machine

Dawn’s VO: Kids who crave fun. And between all of the various things that we were offered,

Ollie, wearing a helmet and elbow pads, is guided by his coach through an indoor skateboard park, holding skateboards

Dawn’s VO: and all of the therapies that we took advantage of, I'm to this day certain

Ollie and his coach climb the metal stairs to the halfpipe

Dawn’s VO: that having those conversations and making those plans were a a prime reason why his stem cell transplant went so smoothly and it was so successful.

Ollie’s VO: I looked forward to going back to skateboarding. It's something I can actually do blind

The camera shows Ollie skateboarding with the support of his coach and a cane with a ball at the end up and down a halfpipe from various angles

Ollie’s VO: because it's more about the feel,

Dawn watches Ollie skateboard through a chain link fence

Ollie’s VO: and every week I seem to get better and better at it.

Dawn’s VO: He is now almost 29 months in remission since his stem cell transplant.

The camera shows Ollie’s coach helping him position his feet on the skateboard before dropping into the halfpipe.

Dawn’s VO: He lets nothing stop him.

Ollie gives his coach a high five and has a happy conversation with him

Dawn’s VO: We learned so so much about how to find moments of joy

The camera shows Ollie skateboarding in the halfpipe with the guidance of his coach

Dawn’s VO: in the middle of incredible agony.

Ollie talks with his coach while seated.

Words on screen:

Palliative care lets you focus on what matters, when it matters most.

Let’s make sure everyone in Canada gets better care.

Cancer.ca/palliativecare

A message from

CCS Logo

Analyzing Hospice Palliative Care Across Canada

Read our latest report here.