Cancer in Ottawa

These figures matter. Earlier detection improves outcomes; declining participation is a concrete policy signal.

Ottawa Can’t Easily Tell You Its Own Cancer Rates

A look at local cancer data transparency — and why open numbers matter for residents and policy

If you live in Ottawa and want a clear answer to a simple question — “How do our cancer rates compare with the rest of Ontario, and are they changing?” — you will find the path surprisingly difficult. That difficulty is itself the story.

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) maintains detailed, regularly updated surveillance for infectious diseases and publishes recent mortality figures. Yet for cancer — one of the leading causes of death and a major driver of health-system demand — the most accessible public resources still leave residents without easy local numbers, trends, or clear analysis.

What the public-facing cancer page actually offers

OPH’s dedicated cancer information page lists general risk factors (including alcohol among dietary factors linked to increased risk) and directs readers to external organizations: the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation, Canadian Cancer Society, and Cancer Care Ontario / Ontario Health. It contains no Ottawa-specific incidence rates, no trend lines, and no comparison to the provincial average.

The last standalone local report, Cancer in Ottawa 2012, used data from 2007. More recent figures exist, but they are not presented on the cancer page itself.

What the 2023 State of Ottawa’s Health report actually shows

Buried inside the broader State of Ottawa’s Health 2023 report are age-standardized cancer incidence and mortality rates for 2018, drawn from the Ontario Cancer Registry. These are the most recent detailed local figures OPH has published in a population-health document.

Figure 1. Age-standardized cancer incidence rates (per 100,000), Ottawa vs. rest of Ontario, 2018. Source: Ontario Cancer Registry via OPH State of Ottawa’s Health 2023.

Key takeaways from the 2018 incidence data:

• Overall cancer incidence in Ottawa (499.5 per 100,000) was statistically similar to the rest of Ontario (506.4).
• Colorectal cancer incidence was virtually identical (51.0 vs. 51.9).
• Melanoma incidence was significantly higher in Ottawa (27.1 vs. 22.7).
• Thyroid and kidney cancers were significantly lower.

Figure 2. Age-standardized cancer mortality rates (per 100,000), Ottawa vs. rest of Ontario, 2018. Source: Ontario Cancer Registry via OPH State of Ottawa’s Health 2023.

On mortality:

• Overall cancer mortality was similar (180.0 vs. 185.4 per 100,000).
• Colorectal cancer mortality was essentially the same (19.2 vs. 19.6).
• Breast cancer mortality was significantly higher in Ottawa (16.0 vs. 12.6).
• Lung cancer remained the leading cause of cancer death, consistent with national patterns.

Self-reported prevalence from the 2019/20 Canadian Community Health Survey (also cited by OPH) shows approximately 1.8–2% of Ottawa adults aged 18+ and about 4.9–5% of those aged 65+ reporting a cancer diagnosis of any type.

Screening trends — a more recent signal

The same 2023 report includes screening participation data through 2020, showing clear pandemic-era declines:

Figure 3. Cancer screening participation and overdue rates in Ottawa, 2018–2020. Source: Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario) via OPH State of Ottawa’s Health 2023.

• Breast cancer screening participation fell from 65% (2018) to 58% (2020).
• Cervical screening fell from 64% to 56%.
• The share of eligible residents overdue for colorectal screening rose from 37% to 43%.

These figures matter. Earlier detection improves outcomes; declining participation is a concrete policy signal.

Why the gap matters

Cancer data in Ontario is largely managed through the provincial registry, so public-health units are not solely responsible for generating incidence numbers. That does not remove the responsibility to make the best available local analysis accessible.

OPH already demonstrates it can do this well for other conditions: infectious-disease dashboards are current and usable. The contrast is noticeable. In a city whose population is aging (OPH projects that adults 65+ will reach 20% by 2030), the absence of routinely updated, easy-to-find local cancer indicators limits both individual decision-making and evidence-based local policy.

What residents currently cannot easily check:

• Whether Ottawa’s colorectal, lung, or breast cancer rates have moved since 2018
• Neighbourhood or socioeconomic patterns (where privacy allows)
• Stage-at-diagnosis trends that would reveal whether screening gaps are translating into later-stage disease

A practical path forward

The solution is not complicated. OPH could:

• Publish (or prominently link) current Ottawa-specific incidence and mortality by major cancer type on its cancer page and open-data portal, updated as new registry releases become available.
• Provide short, plain-language analysis of trends and comparisons — exactly the “clear analysis” that turns raw numbers into usable information.
• Maintain the same standard of accessibility already applied to infectious-disease and some chronic-disease indicators.

The ask is modest and constructive: Treat cancer surveillance data with the same transparency and regularity that OPH already applies to many other population-health indicators. Open data plus clear analysis lets residents make better decisions and gives elected officials and the Board of Health better evidence for resource allocation, screening outreach, and prevention programs.

The 2018 numbers show that Ottawa’s overall cancer profile was not dramatically different from the rest of Ontario. That fact strengthens, rather than weakens, the case for openness. When the data are ordinary, the public still deserves to see them clearly — and to see them updated.

Better local open data will not prevent every cancer. It will, however, give Ottawa residents and policymakers the same basic tools that good public-health practice already provides for many other conditions. That is a reasonable expectation in 2026.

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References

1. Ottawa Public Health. State of Ottawa’s Health: 2023 Report. Ottawa (ON): Ottawa Public Health; 2023. Available at: https://www.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/reports-research-and-statistics/resources/Documents/2023_Status_of_Ottawas_Health_Report_EN_FINAL.pdf (cancer incidence and mortality tables for 2018; screening data 2018–2020; self-reported prevalence).
2. Ottawa Public Health. Morbidity and Deaths Attributable to Chronic Conditions (web page, data through 2023). https://www.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/reports-research-and-statistics/chronic-conditions.aspx.
3. Ottawa Public Health. Cancer in Ottawa 2012 (and companion Knowledge to Action report). Archived reports using 2007 data. Available via OPH reports archive.
4. Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario). Ontario Cancer Profiles (source for screening participation figures cited in the 2023 OPH report).
5. Ontario Cancer Registry (SEER*Stat Package – Release 12 – OCR, March 2021), as cited in the 2023 State of Ottawa’s Health Report.
6. Canadian Community Health Survey 2019/20 (Ontario Share File), Statistics Canada — self-reported chronic conditions including cancer, as reported by OPH.

Data notes: All incidence and mortality rates shown are age-standardized. 2018 is the most recent detailed local breakdown published by OPH in a major population-health report as of the 2023 document. More recent provincial figures are available from Ontario Health / Cancer Care Ontario, but Ottawa-specific breakouts are not routinely presented on OPH’s primary cancer page.

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