John Stewart
President
- Email: contact@vasculitis.ca
- Work: 1-877-572-9474
Canada is the world’s second-largest country by area, spanning nearly 10 million km² from the Atlantic to the Pacific and deep into the Arctic — yet home to only approximately 38 million people, most of them living within a narrow band along the southern border. It is a bilingual, multicultural federation of ten provinces and three territories, where French and English traditions coexist alongside a rich Indigenous heritage.
Canada has a publicly funded universal healthcare system, though it is administered provincially — meaning access to specialist vasculitis care can vary significantly depending on where a patient lives. Major academic medical centres in cities like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver offer strong rheumatology expertise, and patient advocacy for rare diseases is a growing and well-organised field.
Patient advocacy for vasculitis in Canada is primarily in the hands of Vasculitis Foundation Canada (VFC), a registered charity based in Cambridge, Ontario. VFC supports patients and families across the country with information, education and community — and funds research into the causes and potential cures of all forms of vasculitis.
VFC is more than a national umbrella: it has regional reach through chapters like the Calgary Vasculitis Association, and organizes regular events including patient education lectures, support group meetings and an annual awareness walk. On the clinical side, the Canadian vasculitis research network CanVasc connects clinicians and researchers across the country, providing an important bridge between science and patient care.
For Canadian vasculitis patients, VFC remains the central point of contact — a community hub as much as an advocacy organization.
La défense des intérêts des patients atteints de vascularite au Canada est principalement assurée par la Fondation Vasculites Canada (FVC), un organisme de bienfaisance enregistré basé à Cambridge, en Ontario. La FVC soutient les patients et leurs familles à travers tout le pays en leur offrant information, éducation et communauté — et finance la recherche sur les causes et les traitements possibles de toutes les formes de vascularite.
La FVC rayonne à l’échelle régionale grâce à des sections locales comme la Calgary Vasculitis Association, et organise régulièrement des conférences éducatives, des groupes de soutien et une marche annuelle de sensibilisation. Le réseau canadien de recherche CanVasc relie cliniciens et chercheurs à travers le pays, faisant le lien entre science et soins aux patients.
Pour les patients canadiens atteints de vascularite, la FVC reste le point de contact central — un lieu de communauté autant qu’une organisation de plaidoyer.
President
