April 3, 1946: Canadian Cancer Society launches fight against deadly disease
The Canadian Cancer Society declared all-out war against the disease, which killed more than twice as many Canadians in five years as the number of Canadian servicemen killed in the Second World War.
Figures released by the society showed 75,432 Canadians died of cancer between 1938 and 1943.
That compared to 36,018 servicemen who died between September 1939 and May 1945.
In other words, every few seconds during every hour, day, week, month of the year someone somewhere in the world died of cancer, the society said, the second leading cause of death after accidents, and the rate was still going up. It was evidence of the alarming need for an educational campaign to raise people’s awareness of the disease — more than 200 kinds of cancer are known to exist — as well as to ask their help by donations and membership in the group.
The society, which formed in 1938, announced that all large centres in Alberta would be canvassed door-to-door during April’s Give to Conquer Cancer campaign.
Mrs. J.A. Clarke, who headed the women’s section of the Edmonton chapter, was in charge of a desk in the Hudson’s Bay Company store where donations could also be left.
Canvassing still occurs in some provinces, but there hasn’t been a door-to-door campaign in Alberta for a couple of years because of a lack of volunteers, said Paula Trotter, communications coordinator with society’s Alberta and Northwest Territories division.
Most funds here are raised through events such as the Daffodil Days and Relay for Life.
According to the Canadian Cancer Society’s website, in 2013, an estimated 187,600 new cases of cancer were diagnosed and 75,500 died of the disease.
(The number of estimated new cases last year did not include 81,700 new non-melanoma skin cancer cases.)
The increase in cases and deaths is the result of people living longer today and because the risk of developing cancer increases with age.
Cancer is now the leading cause of death in Canada, responsible for about 30 per cent of all deaths.
But the survival rate has improved from 25 per cent in the 1940s to more than 60 per cent today because of greater awareness and advocacy work around such carcinogens as tobacco, tanning and asbestos — 50 per cent of cancers can be prevented through healthy living — earlier diagnosis, research and improved treatment.