This year, the Canadian Fertility Awareness Week theme is “Fertility Unlocked” — and it couldn’t be more timely. The focus is on unlocking access to care, unlocking education and awareness, and unlocking policies that support every path to family building.
TRIO and its doctors have been providing fertility care to people in Ontario for several decades. We are intimately aware of the barriers that have been removed over that time — for example, access to public funding in Ontario and third-party options for people needing donor eggs or sperm as part of their family building.
But so much more work needs to be done, here in Ontario and across the country.
The Disparity of Fertility Access Across Canada
There is a stark disparity in access to fertility treatment across Canada. If you are lucky enough to live in Toronto, Vancouver, or Montreal, you have options. If you live almost anywhere else in the country, you may have one option — or, as it is for so many Canadians, no options at all.
Consider the reality:
- PEI has no fertility clinic options in the province.
- Manitoba and Saskatchewan have only one clinic each.
- Infertility affects 1 in 6 people in Canada — that’s millions of people with a time-sensitive medical issue who cannot get appropriate treatment.
This does not provide adequate access for the Canadians who need it most.
Fertility Care and the 2SLGBTQIA+ Community
Access to fertility care can be especially challenging for members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Many individuals and couples rely on donor sperm or eggs as their only path to parenthood, yet navigating these options in Canada is complex and tightly regulated.
While safeguards are important, a limited domestic donor pool and strict requirements can create delays and gaps in care, uncertain pathways and cross-border challenges, and incredible expense.
To achieve equitable healthcare, we must modernize regulations, expand donor access, and intentionally design systems that support all paths to family building.
How Do We Unlock Fertility?
We commend the federal government on their election promise to provide support for reproductive healthcare to all Canadians. This promise shows our government values the importance of women’s healthcare and understands that reproductive health is essential healthcare — as essential as care for any other medical condition.
Funding for infertility is also a necessity for ending the stigma of an infertility diagnosis. We — along with the 1 in 6 Canadians who face this diagnosis — eagerly await the funding announcement.
Expanding Access Beyond Major Centres
There are ways to improve access to treatment for more communities. For example, along with Dr. Andrew Siren, TRIO has been providing IVF access to people in the Thunder Bay region for decades.
We are hopeful that increased federal funding will allow broader discussions with clinic operators across Canada who already know how to do this.
Educating Front-Line Healthcare Providers
We also need to educate our front-line medical practitioners — family doctors and nurse practitioners — so they can provide comprehensive information about fertility to their patients.
This information needs to extend beyond helping patients with birth control (which, of course, is extremely important). It must also include the reality of fertility decline as we age, so people can make informed decisions about family building.
Many patients who come to TRIO are shocked to find out that fertility begins to decline around the age of 35. They have spent much of their reproductive years preventing unwanted pregnancies, and when they are ready to begin their family, they are surprised to find that their fertility cannot always be “turned back on.”
Making Fertility Awareness as Routine as Other Health Screenings
We need fertility checks to be as routine as breast exams and HPV vaccines.
Conversations surrounding mental health have become mainstream in schools and workplaces. These shifts didn’t happen by accident — they were the result of deliberate public health education, consistent messaging, and cultural normalization.
And yet, one critical area of health remains largely absent from that same level of awareness: fertility.
The Bigger Picture: Canada’s Population Decline
The population of Canada contracted for the first time ever. There are thousands of Canadians currently struggling to have children, but they face financial, educational, or geographic barriers that ultimately prevent them from accessing fertility treatment.
Will access to fertility care for all Canadians fix the population decline our country is currently facing? Maybe not all on its own — however, it would certainly help to reverse this disturbing trend.
Some Positive News
Fertility Matters Canada (FMC) announced they have been awarded substantial federal funding from Health Canada’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Fund. This investment supports a major national assisted human reproduction project to co-create a new digital, interactive tool to help Canadians navigate fertility care and reproduction, with a focus on serving Indigenous and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities.
We applaud the federal government for providing this grant to Fertility Matters Canada and are hopeful that we will see more of this kind of funding, support, and recognition for fertility care in Canada in the near future.
For more information and to connect with TRIO, please view our list of clinics or get started here.
