Cassandra Williamson-Hopp

The Coast Conservation Endowment Fund Foundation is implementing new shareholder proxy voting guidelines to advocate for the rights of Indigenous peoples, making it the first to its knowledge to do so in Canada. The new guidelines by Indigenous-led Coast Funds, which has $118 million assets under management, will apply the new guidelines to its Canadian […]

  • August 15, 2019 January 9, 2021
  • 06:37

More than 50 per cent of working-age Canadians are living with one or more chronic disease, up from just 37 per cent in 2007, according to Jonathan Tafler, senior director of Employer Health Solutions at Shoppers Drug Mart Inc. Speaking at Benefits Canada’s 2019 Chronic Disease at Work conference in Toronto on June 5, he […]

  • June 21, 2019 November 11, 2020
  • 07:58

Six million Canadians are living with obesity and its prevalence is continuing to rise, said David Macklin, medical director of the weight management program at Medcan, during a session at Benefits Canada’s 2019 Chronic Disease at Work conference in Toronto on June 5. While many may consider obesity to be a matter of will power, […]

  • June 21, 2019 November 12, 2020
  • 07:57

Compared with recreational users, medical cannabis patients frequently use CBD-dominant preparations with the smallest amount of THC to get the greatest improvements in symptom control, function and quality of life with the fewest adverse events, said Michael Koehn, founder of the CannSolve Clinic in British Columbia. During a session at Benefits Canada’s Chronic Disease at […]

  • June 21, 2019 November 12, 2020
  • 07:56

Thirty per cent of deaths in Canada are due to cardiovascular disease. It kills more woman than all cancers combined. And it cost $21 billion 10 to 15 years ago, so with the rising cost of health care, it’s easy to imagine what that number looks like today. “While I’m up here, four Canadians are […]

  • June 21, 2019 November 12, 2020
  • 07:55

By now, the economic burden of chronic disease in Canada has most likely surpassed $200 billion, according to Sarah Lussier Hoskyn, senior analyst, regulatory affairs and market access at Innovative Medicines Canada. “When you think about the total health-care budget in this country, we spent $250 billion in 2017 alone,” Lussier Hoskyn said during a session […]

  • June 21, 2019 November 12, 2020
  • 07:54

For adolescents with atopic dermatitis, or eczema, the burden of illness is high and caregivers face many challenges, according to Dr. Neil Shear, president of the Canadian Dermatology Association. “We’re trapped in a qualitative division of mild, moderate and severe, which doesn’t make sense,” said Shear during Benefits Canada’s 2019 Chronic Disease at Work conference […]

  • June 21, 2019 November 12, 2020
  • 07:54

While the definition of type 1 diabetes – the body doesn’t produce insulin – sounds clear and concise, this disease is anything but, said Lisa Geelen, a type 1 diabetes caregiver, during Benefits Canada’s 2019 Chronic Disease at Work conference in Toronto on June 5. Diabetes is more of an art than a science to manage, […]

  • June 21, 2019 November 12, 2020
  • 07:52

As benefits fraud schemes become more sophisticated, group insurers must continuously evolve their strategies to keep up to date, according to Shelley Frohlich, director of fraud risk management at Sun Life Financial Inc. A group insurer’s role is to help protect the integrity of the benefits plan by reducing the financial and reputational risks to an […]

  • April 26, 2019 September 13, 2019
  • 09:20

The Pension Investment Association of Canada has written the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, noting there shouldn’t be increased regulations on proxy advisory firms as this could cost pension plans without having clear benefits. This comes in response to a roundtable the SEC held on the topic in November 2018. Topics on the agenda […]

  • April 24, 2019 January 10, 2021
  • 09:53