Inspiring progress: Your generosity at work
“Each September, during Arthritis Awareness Month, we shine a light on the impact of arthritis to ensure that those suffering know they are not alone, and those who don’t understand what arthritis steals begin to learn about its devastating reality.
Thanks to your generosity, Arthritis Society Canada is working relentlessly to support the six million people in Canada who live with arthritis every day. As this number continues to increase, the urgency in our work grows. We’re taking bold steps to create a future beyond the limits of arthritis. Working with 21 national ecosystem partners, we are the backbone organization for the creation of a 10-year Arthritis Action Plan to transform the landscape of arthritis care and research in Canada.
By sounding the alarm on critical issues facing people living with arthritis, we are strengthening our efforts to transform their future. Thank you for your ongoing support. You are offering hope to millions for a brighter future.”
- Trish Barbato, President and CEO, Arthritis Society Canada
Download Your Impact in Motion Report [PDF 1.1MB]
Arthritis Action Plan
Arthritis Society Canada is working with 21 system partners across Canada to develop a 10-year Arthritis Action Plan that will transform health outcomes for people living with arthritis. This Plan will take on the big issues of arthritis, including prevention, cures, equitable access and elevating the urgency of the disease. This innovative, first-of-its-kind Plan will engage 1 million voices, making it the largest co-created plan in Canada.
Join the Arthritis Action Plan
Donors driving discoveries: You make transformative research possible
More than six million people in Canada are counting on us to discover new treatments for arthritis and hopefully, one day, a cure. Thanks to our generous donors, Arthritis Society Canada is the largest charitable funder of arthritis research in the country. We support a wide range of research, including studies on slowing or preventing disc degeneration and exploring the link between immune cells, activity and osteoarthritis pain. These are just two examples of how your support is driving groundbreaking efforts to discover innovative solutions – solutions that have the potential to change the lives of people living with the impact of what arthritis has stolen from them.
Learn more about our research investments
Legacy: A Will to give back
John Beresford completed a 16,000-kilometre rally from China to France to honour his late wife, Deirdre, and raise awareness for arthritis. Diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in the 1980s, Deirdre stayed active despite her worsening condition, passing away in 2016. With the goal of raising money for Arthritis Society Canada in Deirdre’s memory, John entered the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge using the 1956 Volkswagen Beetle he bought for her, but she sadly never got to use.
“Much of the public does not appreciate how severely this disease affects people and how their lives are changed by it. It makes it difficult to carry on a normal life,” says John. “Arthritis Society Canada is doing great work in research and supporting people living with the disease.”
John isn’t just raising funds for now; he’s also planning for the future. The memory of Deirdre’s love for volunteer work inspired him to make Arthritis Society Canada a beneficiary in his Will.
Read more stories like John and Deirdre’s
Helping people like Norma envision a pain-free future
“I had a fabulous career that was taken away from me. I had to go on disability and medically retire a good ten years ahead of time,” she says. "In the beginning, when I was first diagnosed, I felt like I was on a ship in the middle of the ocean with a dense fog all around me. Slowly but surely, I felt like I was getting a glimpse of a lighthouse that would bring me to shore. My lighthouse was Arthritis Society Canada."
We can be Norma’s ‘lighthouse’ because our valued donors stand with us, collectively illuminating hope and inspiring progress for all those impacted by this devastating disease.