Thank you for ensuring a full, vibrant life is still possible for Canadians living with Parkinson’s.
A message from our leadership
Thank you for partnering with us. Your generosity is making a difference, fueling our momentum as together, we craft a legacy of resilience, strength and possibilities for all people affected by Parkinson’s in Canada.
As we reflect on 2023, the word ‘momentum’ comes to mind. Momentum fueled by your unwavering support. Thanks to the steadfast support of donors and partners, we expanded our services, invested in more research, raised the voice of people living with Parkinson’s, and created more opportunities for empowerment than ever before. Our community is the inspiration for all that we do, as we partner, connect and fuel work that helps improve lives of people with Parkinson’s today and create a better future ahead.
With the right information, care and support, members of our community are finding the strength to navigate the challenges Parkinson’s presents, living boldly, loudly and unapologetically. Finding new ways to stay connected to their passions. Sharing their voice to create positive change. Together, we are helping shift the narrative around living with Parkinson’s - helping challenge stigma that people with Parkinson’s face, so we can inspire and empower them to thrive.
The generosity of our donors, partners, volunteers and champions has been the cornerstone of transformation, making profound impacts that are resonating throughout the country. Each contribution, each gesture of support, has created waves of positive change that will ripple out well into the future.
Karen Lee, Ph.D
President & CEO
Parkinson Canada
Bob Kuhn
Chair
Parkinson Advisory Council
Laura Edgar
Chair
Parkinson Advisory Board of Directors
Across our programs and services, research program and advocacy work, 2023 was a big year with big impact — only possible thanks to Parkinson Canada’s generous donors, partners and volunteers.
16,761 people attended our webinars, helping them on their Parkinson’s journey
2,348
digital resource downloads
28 research grants awarded
$2,597,204
raised through community events
400 volunteers gave their time
5,282 calls
and emails answered
3,442 participants
in fundraising events
2,500
attendees in over 100 community support groups across the country
$2M+ in
research funding awarded
Here are just a few incredible ways that you’ve made an impact in 2023:
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You helped improve access to the best possible Parkinson’s care
through the launch of CareFinder, our user-friendly online directory that connects people with Parkinson’s-informed services based on their location.
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You ensured Canadians do not have to face Parkinson’s alone
by helping us launch a Peer-to-Peer Support Program that matches trained volunteer mentors with those living with or caring for someone with Parkinson’s.
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You accelerated advancements in Parkinson’s research
by funding the most promising projects across Canada, led by expert clinicians and researchers, to better understand the cause and potential treatments.
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You helped us partner to drive collaboration and empower our community
hosting landmark events with the Canadian Movement Disorders Society, The Michael J. Fox Foundation and Parkinson’s UK.
See what you made possible in 2023
In 2023, Parkinson Canada’s community of donors, volunteers and supporters helped redefine what is still possible with Parkinson’s. Here, we celebrate the unwavering support of individuals like you, who make every moment of progress possible.
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![Jim Long]()
Embracing the Spirit of Giving and Kindness
Jim Long, a man of extraordinary kindness, embodied the essence of compassion in every aspect of his life. Raised in a family where generosity ran deep, Jim's innate sense of duty guided him to become a pillar of support for his sister, Pat, when she was diagnosed with Parkinson's.
His commitment to caring for Pat extended beyond his family. He tirelessly advocated for Parkinson's awareness and support, organizing fundraising events and personally ensuring Pat received the best care possible. Jim's dedication knew no bounds.
Jim’s legacy lives on. In his Will, he made sure to leave a gift to Parkinson Canada. His children could not be prouder, and we could not be more grateful.
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Connecting People to Care
TD Bank Group (TD) has helped open doors to comprehensive Parkinson’s care through their leadership support of CareFinder, our innovative online directory that launched in November 2023. This pivotal tool has bridged the gap for many, ensuring that the right support is just a click away, no matter where someone is in their journey with Parkinson’s. This new resource stands as a reminder that caring for family, finding joy, and living fully are still possible. CareFinder is possible thanks to lead donors TD through the TD Ready Commitment, Iris Jacobson & Alan Levine, and our supporter community. Thank you for collaborating with us, TD!
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SuperMom & Super Supporter
Even in the face of life-altering challenges, Carlota Lee embodies resilience, hope, and an unwavering commitment to making a difference. In 2019, her life took an unexpected turn when she was diagnosed with Parkinson's, altering her journey as an avid marathon runner and tennis enthusiast.
Carlota's journey extends beyond personal perseverance, encompassing community leadership and advocacy. She continues to chair the Odlum Brown VanOpen tennis tournament.
She also quickly became involved in raising funds to support Parkinson Canada by co-founding our national Women for Parkinson's initiative, introducing the annual SuperMom Walk/Run in Vancouver, and becoming an active member of the Campaign Cabinet.
We celebrate the profound impact of Carlota’s passion and generosity, as she works to raise awareness and funds for better treatments.
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Purpose, Passion & Possibilities
When Deb's youngest brother was diagnosed with Parkinson's almost twenty years ago, she was moved to find a way to make a difference. In 2009, she began volunteering with Parkinson Canada to raise awareness and vital funds for research into Parkinson's.
An alumnus of the Kellogg-Schulich EMBA and a member of Verity Club in Toronto, Deb connects her communities of women to support her volunteer work. Beginning with the Women & Philanthropy event, she leveraged her passion to empower women to help build a fundraising model driven by women. This strategy led to her partnership with Carlota Lee, another passionate member of our community. Together, they established Women for Parkinson's, a national network of dynamic women who have united to create a successful fundraising strategy, raising over $200,000 to date to accelerate research.
The most recent event in Toronto brought together artists impacted by Parkinson's who shared their inspirational stories with over 150 guests, raising $60,000! We thank Deb for her incredible commitment and creativity in volunteering for fifteen years and counting! If you are interested in joining Women for Parkinson's, please reach out to Naseem Jamal.
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Growling Beaver Brevet gears up for 10-year anniversary
Jeff Parr knows the impact Parkinson’s can have on those living with it and on the friends and family who surround them. First his father-in-law was diagnosed, followed by other family friends and close friend Evan Siddall, co-founder of the Growling Beaver Brevet. Together with Clairvest Group Inc., Jeff boldly stepped into the role of primary sponsor for this unique cycling event, which raised more than $500,000 last year alone. Now in its 10th year, the event continues to thrive through the generosity of dedicated sponsors and top fundraisers like Jeff.
We hope you’ll mark your calendar for the 10th annual Growling Beaver Brevet on October 5, 2024, where you can challenge yourself and join this incredible community to support Canadians like Evan.
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Monthly Donor Makes a Difference
Jim had just retired from teaching and was planning a holiday with his wife when he was diagnosed at 56 years of age. He and his wife, Bette, were quick to reach out for support, joining local support groups tailored to their unique needs – for Jim, as someone living with Parkinson’s, and for Bette, as a care partner.
Over the course of Jim’s 23-year journey with Parkinson’s, he and Bette became involved with Parkinson Canada. Bette established a support group for care partners and they participated in SuperWalk. Bette recalls Jim's strength and resilience in the face of Parkinson’s: “Jim was an inspiration in his courage and ability to overcome challenges.”
The unwavering support of family, friends, and local support groups were a lifeline for Jim and Bette. Today, Bette is a committed monthly donor, and her ongoing support for over 20 years ensures people always have a place to turn and promising research continues. Thank you, Bette!
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SuperWalk Superstar pays it forward
After her first SuperWalk in 2018, Kim Morston took some time to focus on her health. She turned to Parkinson Canada for information and support. Along her journey, she learned about and eventually pursued Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), a surgical treatment for Parkinson’s. She found connection and community through our DBS Support Group, gaining the invaluable perspective and support of people who have been there.
Finally, Kim felt like she had her life back and wanted to give back to those who supported her. With strength and resilience, Kim returned to SuperWalk in 2023, raising over $13,000 to ensure people like her always have the compassionate support and trusted information they need. She plans to participate in SuperWalk in 2024 and get involved in our Peer-to-Peer Support Program. We are inspired by Kim’s generosity of spirit and dedication to giving back to the community.
Your generosity by the numbers
We value your gift to Parkinson Canada, and make sure it goes as far as possible for people living with Parkinson’s.
We invested
Research: $2,709,121
19%
Programs & Services: $2,144,669
Awareness: $1,275,963
Advocacy & Public Affairs: $597,187
32%
9%
40%
We raised
44%
Individual Giving: $5,848,254
Events: $2,597,204
Corporate & Foundation: $1,805,356
Investment income: $886,831
Planned Giving: $1,971,091
Other revenue: $40,821
14%
20%
0.3%
7%
15%
Parkinson Canada
2023 Financial Statements
Click image to expand
Statement of Financial Position
As of December 31, 2023
Income Statement
For the 12 months ending December 31, 2023
The above represents a summary of how your generous contributions were spent during 2023. Completed audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2023 are available upon request and on our website.
Parkinson Canada is proud to be accredited with the Imagine Canada Standards Program, which holds us to the highest standards of ethical and financial accountability. The Standards Program Trustmark is a mark of Imagine Canada used under license by Parkinson Canada.
If you have any questions about how we fundraise, please contact us at 1-888-664-1973.
People with Parkinson’s are at the centre of everything we do. And while life with Parkinson’s presents challenges, we hear from our community that with the right support, dreams, aspirations, and moments of joy are still possible. Together, we are making more of these moments within reach.
Over the last year, we launched foundational projects, ones that will form the bedrock of our continued support for our community, investment in research and commitment to advocacy. With your support, our momentum will continue into 2024 and beyond.
Research investment and collaboration
Parkinson’s is complex, and there is so much to explore, which is why research is so crucial to understand the causes, risks, treatments and how to enhance support and diagnoses. Fueled by generous donors, Parkinson Canada’s research program has invested more than $31 million in research since 1981. In 2023, we awarded $2 million in funding to 28 projects. This funding often kick starts career opportunities for emerging researchers and helps to expand knowledge and advance ideas with established researchers. To grow the next generation of Parkinson’s specialists in Canada and provide quicker and high quality access to care, we continue to award clinical movement disorder fellowships, expanding the pipeline of qualified movement disorder specialists and neurosurgeons in Canada.
At Parkinson Canada, we not only invest in research but act as a connector, bringing researchers from across the country together to share their research and insights. In 2023, we hosted the 2nd Annual Canadian Movement Disorders Meeting in partnership with the Canadian Movement Disorders Society in Toronto, providing a forum for discussions and collaboration for more than 150 leading experts in the field. As the meeting came to a close, the sense of community and shared purpose was palpable throughout the room. This event wasn’t just a scientific conference; it was a confluence of personal journeys, collective experiences, and a shared mission to better understand and treat Parkinson’s and other movement disorders.
Thanks to you, we continue to support the growth of a collaborative network of researchers, clinicians and people affected by Parkinson’s through the Canadian Open Parkinson Network (C-OPN), the first national, open science platform in Canada that has already captured data from over 1,800 people living with Parkinson’s and healthy individuals across the country. One of the primary goals of C-OPN is to accelerate research into areas such as the potential causes of Parkinson’s, identifying markers of progression, and clinical trials for new treatments. The network has expanded to include 11 sites across Canada (including a new Halifax, Nova Scotia site which opened in March 2024), centralizing the best of Canadian Parkinson’s research so it can be leveraged for cutting-edge discoveries. 2024 will see the launch of an additional C-OPN site in Sherbrooke, Quebec; increased enrolment; developing an online recruitment model for remote and rural communities; and exploration of Parkinson’s care access in Indigenous communities.
Research spotlight: eCare-PD
A person living with Parkinson’s in Canada may only see their doctor once or twice a year on average because of a lack of specialists. We continually hear from the community that Parkinson’s symptoms can change day to day, and even hour to hour, and that there is an urgent need for tools that will empower individuals to manage and track their disease course more regularly.
Thanks to you, we are investing in the development of a digital health app called eCare-PD through a Parkinson Canada research grant awarded to Dr. Tiago Mestre and his team at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. This innovative tool has the potential to support people in self-managing their Parkinson’s in-between doctor visits and medical care by connecting them to community supports and providing information related to their Parkinson’s journey through symptom tracking, day-to-day activity monitoring, and educational content for self-care.
People living with Parkinson’s and their care partners are actively involved in the co-creation of our programs, services, and online resources, to ensure we meet the needs of the community. Throughout the development and enhancement of eCare-PD, Dr. Mestre has included input from people with Parkinson’s, to ensure the app can be personalized to each person’s unique journey, improve the long-term usability and adherence of the app, and make it available to the broader community.
Support in the right place,
at the right time
We provide free, accessible and tailored programs and support across Canada, both in person and online, so no one has to go through this journey alone. We fund several health and wellness programs each year, allowing people with Parkinson’s to access a wide variety of (low and no cost) programs to help them stay active and resilient, and live well.
We are here when you need us – that's why we expanded our Information and Referral Service in 2023, taking live calls in English and French, so that people affected by Parkinson’s always have a place to turn. With your support, we’ll continue to expand the hours and languages offered by this service. We will also pilot a website chat function to help people who would rather access support online.
You have opened doors to comprehensive Parkinson’s care by helping us launch CareFinder, a pivotal tool that ensures the right support is just a click away. CareFinder.ca is an innovative online directory that tailors results based on your location, providing listings for specialists, wellness programs and more. Looking to the future, we will continue to expand the directory as we partner with more service providers and specialists across the country, improving our community’s ability to identify and access trusted care, close to home. CareFinder is possible thanks to the generous support of our donors and the lead donors of CareFinder, TD Ready Commitment and Iris Jacobson and Alan Levine.
Living with Parkinson’s can feel isolating, and it can be helpful to talk to someone who has been there. Our newly launched Peer-to-Peer Support Program matches trained volunteer mentors with people who are newly diagnosed or caring for someone living with Parkinson’s. This one-to-one support helps reduce social isolation, build resiliency and connect people with common experiences. Thanks to your generosity, we will continue to expand this program by recruiting more mentors, including care partners.
Elevating the voice of people with Parkinson’s
Parkinson Canada brings our community’s voices together to influence government policies that will make a difference for people with Parkinson’s, including reduced wait times, better access to care and earlier diagnosis. By raising the voices of people living with Parkinson’s, we work to ensure their stories, needs and voices are heard.
In 2022, we made three recommendations to the federal government on support for the Parkinson’s community, which resulted in milestone achievements in 2023.
Our community’s recommendations and results:
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Increase the Canada Health Transfer, the amount of funds the federal government provides to the provinces and territories for healthcare.
On February 7, 2023, Prime Minister Trudeau offered the provinces and territories $46.2 billion in new health funding over 10 years. This includes a $2 billion Canada Health Transfer top-up with a guaranteed 5% increase over five years, conditional on data sharing. We will continue to advocate to ensure these increases in funding reach and meet the needs of the Parkinson’s community, including areas such as home and community supports and access to care.
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Expedite the implementation of the Age Well at Home Benefit to keep those with Parkinson’s at home longer with the support they need.
Our recommendation to implement the Age Well at Home Benefit was adopted, and an expert panel brought together. Our goal is to ensure that the benefit adequately meets the needs of those requiring home care support in the Parkinson’s community.
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Increase the funding available through the Canada Pension Plan Disability Benefit to ensure people with Parkinson’s have better financial supports.
While not a direct response to our recommendation, the federal government recognized the need for more robust financial support for people living with disabilities –a key concern for many in the Parkinson’s community – and passed Bill C-22, the Canada Disability Benefit Act. The Act received Royal Assent on June 22, 2023, meaning it became law in Canada. Parkinson Canada continues to advocate as the details of the benefit are developed to ensure that it meets the needs of and is accessible to those in the Parkinson community for whom it may benefit.
Thank you to the many passionate advocates who joined us in 2023 to create profound, long-term impact for people with Parkinson’s in every part of Canada.
In 2023, Parkinson Canada began work to develop an evidence-based and expert-validated care pathway for a person living with Parkinson’s. A care pathway acts as a roadmap for people to find the care they need, while considering barriers and varying treatment availability across provinces and territories. This work will also include a report card that helps to evaluate quality and access to care across Canada and will help to identify areas for targeted advocacy to improve access, outcomes, and quality of care for persons living with Parkinson’s.
Decision-makers need evidence-based data to inform new policy. That’s why Parkinson Canada is working on a new report, exploring the economic impact of Parkinson’s on individuals and families across Canada. We’re collecting data at the provincial and national level, and will be using this information to highlight the everyday challenges and costs that people impacted by Parkinson’s face - including costs of receiving care and medicines, changes in ability to work, transportation fees and more.
Leadership
Board of Directors
This group of extraordinary volunteer leaders represent a cross-section of industries, geographies, community involvement, experiences and skills, as well as people living with Parkinson’s.
A tribute to Judi Richardson
Judi Richardson, Director and Past Chair of our Board of Directors passed away in 2023. In honour of her memory, Parkinson Canada has renamed our top-ranked pilot grant The Judi Richardson Parkinson Canada Pilot Grant. This award demonstrates innovation and achievement of the highest merit.
Parkinson Advisory Council (PAC)
The Parkinson Advisory Council (PAC) is a diverse and inclusive representation of Canadians diagnosed with Parkinson's, care partners, family members and others with lived experience. Launched in 2021 and comprised of members from across Canada, our PAC ensures the perspective of people impacted by Parkinson’s is integrated into everything we do.
Thank you to these inspiring volunteers who courageously stepped up to provide invaluable input to our CEO and leadership team and help guide our 2023 initiatives.
Research and Clinical Advisory Committee (RCAC)
The Research and Clinical Advisory Committee (RCAC) advises our research team and Board of Directors on the state of Parkinson’s research, clinical care and emerging trends relevant to the Parkinson’s community. The composition of the committee mirrors the professionals who come together to provide multidisciplinary care for Canadians with Parkinson’s, and includes members of the scientific and clinical communities, health professionals engaged in patient care, and lived experience advocates.
Thank you to these esteemed volunteers who help ensure our research program reflects the priorities of the Canadian Parkinson’s community and leverages expertise and talent within the research community.
Dr. Martin McKeown
Dr. Antonio Strafella
Dr. Angela Roberts
Dr. George Tolomiczenko
Dr. Heather Rigby
Dr. Heidi McBride
Dr. Jennifer Goldman
Dr. Julie Nantel
Dr. Richard Camicioli
Dr. Ron Postuma
Dr. Stephen Workman
Dr. Susan Fox
Dr. Tiago Mestre
Dr. Vesna Sossi
Dr. Wendy Horbay
Yu-Yan Poon, RN
Our community of supporters is growing, and so is our collective impact. Thank you for all you made possible for people living with Parkinson’s in 2023!
Do you have questions about Parkinson’s?
Call: 1-888-664-1974
Email: information.referral@parkinson.ca
Visit: parkinson.ca
Would you like to make a donation or learn more about your impact?
Call: 1-888-664-1973
Email: donate@parkinson.ca
Visit: parkinson.ca/donate
Mail: Parkinson Canada 4211 Yonge Street, Suite 316, Toronto, ON M2P 2A9
Want to get in touch with us about something else?
Call: 1-800-565-3000
Email: info@parkinson.ca