Canada's healthcare system is challenged to provide care to a richly diverse population, scattered across a vast urban, rural and remote landscape. More than 9 million people, 30% of our population, live in rural areas³. They vie for the attention of just 18% of family doctors and nurses who have chosen rural practice⁴. Many of our rural emergency rooms are one retirement away from closure⁵. Unfortunately, when rural populations need care, they just have to make do.

Geographical isolation is not the only thing that puts healthcare beyond the reach of many Canadians. Many people are isolated by their lifestyle, their culture or their sexuality. The injection drug users of Vancouver's downtown eastside have one of the highest rates of HIV in the world, comparable to that of Swaziland. Street youth are 100 times more likely to attempt suicide when compared to the national average. For the marginalized who do venture into our urban clinics or end up in our emergency rooms, the care they get is often just not appropriate to their situation.