2024-25 Annual report

Helping people quit for good

More Canadians develop cancer due to commercial tobacco* use than from any other risk factor. Supporting people to quit smoking improves their chance of living beyond cancer by 40 per cent, makes cancer treatment more effective and economical and improves quality of life.

As a result of CPAC’s investments in system-level change across Canada, 95 per cent of cancer care settings now offer smoking cessation support and 64 per cent of outpatient cancer centres offer culturally safer cessation services for Indigenous Peoples, up from 45 per cent in 2022.

Through active collaboration with provinces and territories, CPAC updated the Financial coverage of smoking cessation medications in Canada, 2024 digital map, which outlines publicly funded coverage for smoking cessation aids across the country. Since 2021, coverage and access to smoking cessation medications have improved, particularly for people with cancer.

The importance of free, point-of-care smoking cessation medications was highlighted through a CPAC-funded project in New Brunswick, where providing medications led to a fivefold increase in the number of patients who successfully quit smoking. Based on these results, which showed that smoking cessation interventions are highly cost-effective, the province committed ongoing funding for free smoking cessation medications for cancer patients. CPAC’s investment also helped set the foundation for Horizon Health Network to launch a centralized virtual nicotine addiction treatment hub, which supports people leaving hospitals and outpatient oncology clinics.

Evidence from partners like New Brunswick reinforces the impact of CPAC’s investments and supports.

CPAC provided an opportunity to bring leaders in cancer care and smoking cessation together. Strong clinical leadership, combined with evidence, has contributed to the cultural shift that is necessary to prioritize smoking cessation as an integral part of cancer care.

—Shelley Hewitson, Health Horizon Network, New Brunswick

*Tobacco refers to commercial tobacco products, not traditional or sacred tobacco. Traditional or sacred tobacco is used by some First Nations or Métis communities in ceremonial or sacred rituals for healing and purifying.

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