East West Information

Canada's total fertility rate dropped to its lowest point in more than a century of data keeping in 2022, hitting just 1.33 children per woman, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.

An inquiry that investigated why a former soldier in Nova Scotia killed three family members and himself in 2017 says health-care professionals could have done a better job of sharing Lionel Desmond's complex medical history.

Morag Wehrle had a vision for the type of new mom she would be — drug-free labour, cloth diapers, and exclusive breastfeeding. So when her body was unable to produce breast milk, she felt she was letting her daughter down.

Advocates are heightening calls for the Alberta government to regulate counsellors, after a former family doctor in Grande Prairie, Alta., is now working as an addictions counsellor. Brianne Hudson had her practice permit cancelled after she was found to have committed sexual abuse when she admitted to being in a relationship with a patient.

As the Nova Scotia government continues its effort to make good on a promise to fix health care, staffing remains a key challenge.

The federal government has announced it is seeking another pause on medical assistance in dying (MAID) provisions that would cover those suffering solely from mental illnesses.

Researchers say 64 people in Quebec donated their organs after receiving medical assistance in dying between 2018 and the end of 2022, representing 14 per cent of all donations in the final year of the study.

A joint health and safety committee with the Ministry of Natural Resources has recommended that the Ontario government do more to inform, educate and protect forest firefighters against exposure to cancerous toxins. 

Less than three weeks after a homeless Saint John man lost his life in a tent fire, another is in hospital after losing his left leg below the knee and half of his right foot to severe frostbite.

The government will launch a service to remove intimate images from the internet and "pursue predators," as well as introduce legislation to hold social media companies accountable for harms they have caused. 

A special parliamentary committee is set to release a report this week that will shape the federal government's decision on whether to put the brakes on allowing mental illness as grounds for a medically assisted death.

Millions of people worldwide suffer from chronic back pain, often not knowing if it will ever improve. Physicians Brenda Lau andTed Findlay say successful treatment requires both education and rehabilitation.

Celebrity endorsements are driving up demand for full-body MRIs, which scan for anything lurking in your body that might not show up in more routine check-ups. But some experts say these expensive scans turn healthy people into patients.

Leisha Toory wasn’t allowed to go to the temple in her Hindu community while on her period because menstruating women were considered unclean. While she realized there was more period positivity in Canada, there was still room for improvement, so she decided to do something about it.

More than 4,000 people came forward to donate blood between Dec. 4 and Jan. 19 after Canadian Blood Services allowed those who been in the U.K., Ireland or France decades ago.

B.C.'s attorney general is appealing a court decision that put the brakes on the province's plans to crack down on drug use in public spaces.

Premier David Eby joins officials in introducing new services for substance users the day after it was revealed that toxic illicit drugs killed a record number of people in B.C. last year.

A 74-year-old woman with dementia who was admitted to hospital with multiple serious infections suffered medical neglect at a nursing home in Barrhead, her children allege.

After a string of recent youth suicides and unexplained deaths in First Nations across northwestern Ontario, federal government officials and Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) leaders gathered Wednesday at an emergency meeting with federal officials in Ottawa.

Ottawa Public Health is recommending the federal government consider a New Zealand-style generational smoking ban, which sought to prevent anyone born after 2008 from ever buying tobacco products in their lifetime.

The survey, conducted by ThinkHQ, suggests 91 per cent of the 1,375 doctors who responded are concerned about the continued financial viability of their practices and 52 per cent are very concerned.

A now authorized class-action lawsuit against the Quebec government alleges that the province's response to the first two waves of COVID-19 was improvised and that a pre-existing pandemic plan was ignored until it was too late.

Ken Harrower, who was flying out of Calgary bound for Toronto, said he was approached by the flight's pilot prior to boarding and told he could not board the flight with his power chair because of the batteries it uses. 

Health Minister Mark Holland says some of his provincial counterparts have concerns about whether Canada is ready to extend medical assistance in dying to people with severe mental illnesses.

The Humanity Project, a Moncton non-profit that serves meals to people in need, has been working for several years to turn a187-acre farm into a “therapeutic community,” with a focus on people who are not being served by existing shelters and services in the city.

A woman who is acting as power of attorney for her previously healthy brother following a massive stroke says there should be more resources available to help Canadians prepare to take over for a loved one when “just in case” becomes a reality.

The first routine vaccine to protect children from malaria, one of Africa's deadliest diseases, launches in Cameroon.

For years, peanuts and tree nuts have been considered off-limits in school snacks and lunches as a key precaution to protect those with life-threatening allergies. However, as one Canadian school lifts that restriction, is the tide beginning to turn away from specific food bans?

A handful of new virtual cancer screening programs in British Columbia are connecting people who don't have a family doctor with potentially life-saving treatment they may otherwise be missing out on.

Long COVID sufferers from across Canada are left struggling for words, breath and answers after some specialized clinics have shut down.

Alberta's emergency rooms have faced an influx of people suffering due to the cold snap. The province plunged into a deep freeze last week, and while the worst of it is over, many communities are still grappling with cold temperatures.

A collaboration between CBC's Marketplace and British researchers at the University of Bristol found gambling messages fill up to 21 per cent of each broadcast, on average, based on an analysis that looked at seven games.

B.C. health authorities are warning that group A strep was identified in four children who have died since mid-December, and the province is seeing unusually high levels of the disease this winter.

Disgraced family doctor Arcel Bissonnette has had his licence revoked two months after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting five female patients at his practice in Ste. Anne, Man.

Another 17 Albertans have died from COVID, according to the latest weekly data released by the province. That brings the death toll for the current season to 420.

Businesses in the downtown area of New Brunswick’s largest city say they’re grappling with the impacts of a deepening addiction and homelessness crisis.

A bulging lump on someone's tongue and a big toe that has turned greenish-black from gangrene among 14 new graphic health warnings on cigarette packages starting to appear on store shelves.

A new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says millions of uninsured Canadians will be left out of the new federal dental program because their family income is too high.

Some neurodivergent DJs love the stimulation. Others hate it, but they keep going to the club anyway.

A health-care union is repeating fears that a longstanding staffing shortage of medical technologists could lead to the collapse of a lab and put patients at the hospital in Thompson, Man., where 83 per cent of the specialized positions remain vacant.

Canada is seeing a record number of cases of invasive Group A strep, a bacterial infection that kills roughly one in 10 people who contract it, according to data obtained by CBC News. 

A Brantford woman who pleaded guilty last month to faking pregnancies and fraudulently seeking the services of dozens of doulas across Ontario faces a sentencing hearing today, when victims will also share how her actions have affected their lives.

Canadian eye surgeon Dr. Yasser Khan went to Gaza earlier this month to help civilians caught up in Israel’s military offensive. He said he saw “unprecedented” suffering, and a health-care system in a state of collapse.

A new protocol that gives people who are waiting for a nursing home bed in a "critical state" hospital priority over other New Brunswickers on the waiting list may only be shifting the problem instead of fixing it and could actually make things worse, says an advocate for staff.

Coroner Dr. Jean Brochu is recommending Quebec's automobile insurance board consider increasing sanctions for dangerous driving following the 2021 collision.

Steve Iseman of Toronto cycled across Canada in 2022 to raise awareness about Parkinson's disease. Researchers at the University of Guelph tested him and found even though the 57-year-old was in great physical shape before the ride, his symptoms improved after cycling 8,000 kilometres.

Health professionals are growing increasingly concerned health-care delays are leading to more patient deaths as wait times in Winnipeg emergency rooms continue to soar.

It's easy to use busy lives as excuses to skip workouts, but short bursts of intense physical activity can be a way to increase your daily movement to get the health benefits — without necessarily increasing the amount of time you spend working out. 

The menstrual cycle can cause many physical, mental and emotional changes — but there are ways to take care of your health during your cycle to help you handle those shifts, say experts. 

People 65 years of age and older may receive another dose of updated vaccine to protect against severe illness from COVID-19, says Canada's advisory body on immunizations.