The legacy of Terry Fox lives on, long after his death in 1981. Countless Canadians have taken part in the Terry Fox Run every year in September to raise awareness and funds for cancer research.
As our data show, many Canadians take part in outdoor activities year-round—and perhaps Terry Fox continues to inspire some of them as they head out for a walk, run or jog.
Let’s have a look at those data, as well as the latest numbers on cancer diagnoses, incidence and survival rates to see how far there is to go to conquer the disease.
Most households report walking, running or jogging close to home
Every two years, the Households and the Environment Survey asks Canadian households about participation in various outdoor activities. The latest data are from 2023, when more than three in four households (77%) reported participating in outdoor activities within 10-minutes from home.
Almost three in four of these households (73%) reported walking, while just short of one in five (19%) reported jogging, running, rollerblading, or cross-country running.
Households in Terry’s home province of British Columbia that participated in outdoor activities close to home were most likely to report walking (79%), followed by those in Alberta (74%), Manitoba (72%) and Ontario (72%).
Households in British Columbia that participated in outdoor activities close to home were also most likely to report jogging, running, rollerblading and cross-country running close to home (22%), followed by Alberta (20%) and Quebec (20%).
Just over two in five people expected to be diagnosed with cancer; survival rates differ widely
Just over two in five people in Canada will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, according to estimates based on data from the Canadian Cancer Registry. It has been the leading cause of death in Canada since 2006.
In Canada, the age-standardized cancer incidence rate was 580.3 cases per 100,000 population in 2023, down from 590.6 in 2022 and from 616.2 a decade earlier in 2013. The 2023 rate was 18% higher among males (634.3) than among females (539.5). Across the country, the 2023 rate ranged from 644.0 in Newfoundland and Labrador to 498.5 in Yukon.
Predicted five-year net survival rates for those diagnosed from 2019 to 2021 were highest for thyroid (97%) and testicular (96%) cancers, and relatively high for prostate (91%) and breast (90%) cancers, and for melanomas of the skin (90%).
Conversely, rates were lowest for mesothelioma (8%) and intrahepatic bile gut cancer (9%).
For more information and analysis on cancer, check out our Health Statistics hub.
Contact information
For more information, contact the Statistical Information Service (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).