2022-23 Annual report
Looking ahead
With the COVID-19 pandemic subsiding and all work originally slated to finish in 2022 now complete, the Partnership is focused on the active implementation of our 2022–27 business plan.
Our plan is aligned with the priorities of the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control and grounded in four anchors: equity, pandemic recovery, stewardship and organizational excellence. It sets out a nimble and responsive framework that enables us to build on valuable lessons learned over 15 years, including during the pandemic, about the urgent need to accelerate innovation across the cancer system. Critically, our business plan enables the Partnership to support partners in ways that reflect their unique needs and circumstances.
Here are a few areas where we will focus our work.
- Improving equity in cancer care
We need urgently to build a more accessible and equitable cancer system for all people in Canada. The Partnership’s business plan highlights the commitment we share with partners to embed health equity into the design of all programs of work and ensure planning and implementation of new initiatives prioritizes systemically excluded populations.
The pandemic had a devastating effect on equity-denied people in our communities. Our programs will continue to focus on closing the gaps in the cancer care and outcomes experienced by these communities, including First Nations Inuit and Métis peoples, radicalized communities, people with lower income, new immigrants and those living in rural and remote areas. - Developing indicators specific to First Nations, Inuit and Métis
Through the Partnership’s website, provinces and territories are reporting on progress toward the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control. The Partnership will continue to support a working group of individuals from First Nations, Inuit, Métis and health data organizations, which will have an ongoing role in determining how to track progress on People-specific priorities and action in the Strategy.
Examples of new data sources that will be used to report on progress include cancer-specific data from the First Nations Regional Health Survey, a First Nations-led and governed survey of First Nations who live on reserve or in northern communities. - Continuing the work to end cervical cancer
In 2020, Canada released an action plan to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040. In November, the Partnership will convene leaders at a summit to share successes and lessons from their initial work, and to reenergize commitment and accountability for ending cervical cancer.
The HPV vaccine is one key to eliminate this disease, and the Partnership will continue to support the Urban Public Health Network to implement findings from work they have undertaken over several years to reach under-immunized populations.
We will also initiate partner funding to increase HPV immunization among First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities and enable partners to accelerate their work on HPV primary screening and follow-up. - Supporting promising models of care
The Partnership will support the implementation of new models of care across the cancer care continuum, including early diagnosis, treatment, survivorship and palliative care. As one example, the Partnership will continue to collaborate with Healthcare Excellence Canada to support innovative and promising models of care that improve access to palliative care for people experiencing homelessness or who are vulnerably housed. - Implementing the pan-Canadian Cancer Data Strategy
After working closely with the Canadian Cancer Society and collaborating with a wide range of provincial and federal partners to develop a cancer data strategy to complement the Government of Canada’s pan-Canadian Health Data Strategy, the Partnership will release and implement the pan-Canadian Cancer Data Strategy in the upcoming year.
The purpose of the cancer data strategy is to guide improvements in how data is collected, integrated and used across the health system so we can fully harness the power of data for ensuring more timely and equitable access to the highest quality cancer care for all. The cancer data strategy emphasizes the importance of First Nations, Inuit and Métis data sovereignty.
By collaborating closely with partners and other health system leaders, the Partnership will continue to drive meaningful progress in cancer prevention, treatment, survivorship and health equity – ultimately improving outcomes for all people in Canada who are affected by cancer.