Dementia: What Canada's doing

On this page

• Canada's dementia strategy
• Annual report to Parliament on Canada's dementia strategy
• Public Health Agency of Canada dementia funding
• Dementia research
• Data on dementia
• Programs and services by area

Canada's dementia strategy

Canada's national dementia strategy, A Dementia Strategy for Canada: Together We Aspire, was released in June 2019. The strategy helps guide all those across Canada working on dementia-related initiatives. Its 3 national objectives are to:

• prevent dementia
• advance therapies and find a cure
• improve the quality of life of people living with dementia and caregivers

To develop the strategy, we engaged with many different people and groups including through a national dementia conference.

These groups included those mentioned in the National Strategy for Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias Act:

1. people living with dementia
2. family/friend caregivers
3. researchers
4. health care providers
5. advocacy groups
6. representatives of provincial and territorial governments

We documented the results of our discussions in a What We Heard Report.

Developing the strategy also included guidance from:

• the Ministerial Advisory Board on Dementia
• provincial and territorial governments
• other federal organizations

Annual report to Parliament on Canada's dementia strategy

Each year the federal Minister of Health prepares a report to Parliament on the implementation of the national dementia strategy.

The 2024 Report to Parliament shares a Canada-wide overview of some of the many dementia-related efforts underway across the country. This report highlights how many different organizations, including the federal government, are supporting the strategy's national objectives and reflects the variety of those efforts.

Previous reports

• A Dementia Strategy for Canada: Together We Achieve - 2023 Annual Report
• A Dementia Strategy for Canada: Together We Achieve - 2022 Annual Report
• A Dementia Strategy for Canada: Together We Aspire - 2021 Annual Report
• A Dementia Strategy for Canada: Together We Achieve - 2020 Annual Report
• A Dementia Strategy for Canada: Together We Aspire - First Annual Report to Parliament June 2019

Public Health Agency of Canada dementia funding

Since 2018, the Government of Canada has invested almost $74 million through the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) for three funding programs: the Dementia Community Investment (DCI), the Dementia Strategic Fund (DSF) and the Enhanced Dementia Surveillance Initiative (EDSI).

Together the DCI, DSF and the EDSI have funded more than 70 projects and the EDSI has funded 15 projects as of Fall 2024.

PHAC has provided an additional $74 million in funding to the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI) since 2015. CABHI has supported more than 450 projects, including 345 unique innovations. CABHI will also receive $39.2 million over 4 years, starting in 2025, from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada through the Strategic Science Fund.

Dementia research

The Government of Canada is also supporting research and innovation that will help to prevent dementia through risk reduction, advance therapies, and improve the quality of life of people living with dementia and caregivers.

• Between 2019-2020 and 2023-2024, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) invested more than $256 million in dementia research.
• Bolstered by a Budget 2022 investment of $20 million over five years, in 2023 CIHR launched the Brain Health and Cognitive Impairment in Aging (BHCIA) Research Initiative that promotes research into brain health during aging, as well as addresses the complex care needs of people living with dementia and dementia caregivers.
  • As of 2024-2025, the overall funding commitment for the BHCIA Research Initiative from the Government and partners amounts to over $79 million including the $20 million announced in Budget 2022.
  • The BHCIA Research Initiative encompasses several new strategic programs along with the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA), a national program for dementia research. It has also launched the Dementia Research and Innovation Funders Alliance which unites more than 25 research funding organizations that work together to maximize the impacts of dementia research and innovation.

Data on dementia

The Government of Canada works with the provinces and territories to collect national data on dementia, using the Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance System. This work includes analysis and reporting on the number of Canadians:

• newly diagnosed with dementia
• living with diagnosed dementia

Programs and services by area

• British Columbia
• Alberta
• Saskatchewan
• Manitoba
• Ontario
• Quebec (French only)
• New Brunswick
• Prince Edward Island
• Nova Scotia
• Newfoundland and Labrador
• Yukon
• Northwest Territories
• Nunavut

What else the Government of Canada is doing

• Federal government dementia-related initiatives
• Government of Canada Invests in Projects that Raise Awareness of Dementia and Promote Dementia-inclusive Communities (News Release)
• Government of Canada Invests in Projects that Raise Awareness of Dementia and Promote Dementia-inclusive Communities (Backgrounder)

What other organizations are doing

• Examples of non-governmental, non-profit and international organizations contributing to dementia-related initiatives
• World Health Organization
  • Global Action Plan on the Public Health Response to Dementia 2017-2025 (PDF)
  • Global Dementia Observatory

Research

• Brain Health and Cognitive Impairment in Aging (BHCIA) Research Initiative (CIHR)
• BHCIA Research Initiative: Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CIHR)
• Dementia Research and Innovation Funders Alliance

Data

• Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance System (data tool)
• Dementia in Canada, including Alzheimer disease (infographic)
• Dementia and ischemic heart disease comorbidity among Canadians aged 65 years and older
• Dementia and stroke comorbidity among Canadians aged 65 years and older
• Canadian Institute for Health Information: Understanding health care trajectories of people living with dementia
• Canadian Institute for Health Information: Dementia in Canada