Question Period Note: DEMENTIA

Dementia is a set of symptoms affecting brain function. It is often characterized by changes in memory, mood, judgement and other cognitive functions. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form. In 2017–2018, almost 452,000 Canadians aged 65 and older were living with diagnosed dementia. This number is expected to increase with Canada’s growing and aging population.

Key Messages
• In 2019, our government released Canada’s first national dementia strategy. We report to Parliament annually on the strategy and will be tabling this year’s annual report by mid-December 2021.
• We are investing $50 million over 5 years to fund dementia awareness, surveillance, and guidance on diagnosis and treatment. This is in addition to over $203 million invested between 2015 and 2020 to advance research on dementia.
• The Government of Canada is aware of the significant challenges COVID-19 has created for people living with dementia and caregivers. We have provided resources to help, such as the $350 million Emergency Community Support Fund focused on vulnerable populations delivered through national organizations.

Dementia Strategy
On June 22, 2017, the National Strategy for Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias Act came into force and provided for the development and implementation of a national strategy for the health care of persons afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. A Dementia Strategy for Canada: Together We Aspire was released in June 2019. The Strategy has three national objectives: prevent dementia; advance therapies and find a cure; and improve the quality of life of people living with dementia and their caregivers. As per the Act, the Minister must report annually to Parliament on the Strategy’s effectiveness. The 2021 third annual report is expected to be tabled by mid-December 2021.

Federal Investments
Budget 2019 announced $50 million over 5 years, starting in 2019-20, to support key elements of the strategy’s implementation including: a national public education campaign, targeted awareness raising initiatives, dementia guidance, and enhanced dementia surveillance. Fourteen awareness raising projects under the Dementia Strategic Fund are expected to begin in fall 2021, some of which have begun. This fund also supports Indigenous-led organizations to build capacity to conduct dementia awareness raising activities. The first capacity building project, led by the Native Women’s Association of Canada, focused on dementia-related stigma in Indigenous communities and results are now being used to support an awareness initiative.
Budget 2018 allocated on-going annual funding of $4 million for the Dementia Community Investment to support community-based intervention research projects that optimize the health and wellbeing of people living with dementia and their family/friend caregivers, and increase knowledge about dementia and related risk and protective factors. The Dementia Community Investment has launched twenty-one projects to date, including a knowledge hub, and an additional project will be launched in fall 2021/winter 2022.
Through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Government of Canada continues to invest in research across the country to delay the clinical progression of symptoms of dementia, and improve the quality of life of people living with dementia. Between 2015-16 and 2019-20, CIHR invested over $203 million in dementia research. This includes through the CIHR Dementia Research Strategy and the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging, which is Canada’s research hub on neurodegenerative diseases that affect cognition in aging, including Alzheimer’s disease, and was renewed in 2019 for five years with $31.6 million in federal funding and an additional $14 million from partners.

Federal investments are supporting improvements in health care relevant to dementia. Budget 2021 announced $3 billion over five years, starting in 2022-23, for Health Canada to support provinces and territories in ensuring standards for long-term care are applied. Our government is also providing $6 billion over ten years, starting in 2017-18, directly to provinces and territories to better support home and community care services, including palliative care.
In response to the impact of COVID-19, Government of Canada investments are supporting vulnerable populations, including people living with dementia and their caregivers. On April 21, 2020, the Government of Canada announced $350 million for the Emergency Community Support Fund, delivered by national charitable and non-profit organizations and assisting, for example, with home deliveries of groceries and medications, as well as transport services.

Dementia Surveillance
Four projects, led by academic partners, started in the fall of 2020 and are exploring innovative ways to address surveillance data gaps related to the causes, progression stages and impacts of dementia; the associated sociodemographic, risk and protective factors; and caregivers. In addition, several provinces, in collaboration with PHAC, are implementing projects to enhance surveillance of dementia through the Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance System. These projects are building on PHAC's ongoing work with all provinces and territories through the Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance System to provide annual updated data on the prevalence, incidence and all-cause mortality of Canadians with dementia by age group, sex, province and territory over time.

International
Internationally, Canada endorsed the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Action Plan on a Public Health Response to Dementia (2017-2025). The WHO’sGlobal Dementia Observatory (2017), supported by the Government of Canada, monitors progress on the Global action plan and is actively collecting data on 35 key dementia indicators. PHAC also represents Canada on the World Dementia Council, which is an international charity that identifies and pursues opportunities for global collaboration on dementia.

Key Facts
• In June 2019, A Dementia Strategy for Canada: Together We Aspire was released. Federal investments in dementia research, surveillance, awareness initiatives, community-based projects, and guidance are supporting the implementation of the strategy. The 2021 annual report to Parliament on the strategy is expected to be tabled by mid-December 2021.