Jump to: About the Program  | Welcome | Program | Sponsors

About the program

Join Fighting Blindness Canada (FBC) and the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB) to learn more about the results from the Report Card, a study investigating the post-pandemic state of vision health in Canada. You can learn more and read the report here.

If you are joining us virtually make sure you are registered to receive the zoom link. The times below are in eastern time. Please adjust based on your location.

We will be able to take some questions from the online audience. To ask a question, please type it into the Q&A box on your zoom toolbar, or email us at education@fightingblindness.ca.

WELCOME

Welcome to Our Vision Health Conference 2024

A Report Card on the Post-Pandemic State of Vision Health in Canada

Good morning and welcome to today’s important conference. Your presence here today is heart-warming and truly appreciated by both the Canadian Council of the Blind and Fighting Blindness Canada.

In October 2022, the CCB and FBC issued a report card to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on vision health in Canada. The report card found an overall improvement in vision health in 2021 compared to the first year of the pandemic (2020), but that services and wait times had not reported to pre-pandemic levels. In order to ascertain the current state of vision health in Canada and to determine whether vision health has fully recovered from the effects of the pandemic, an updated assessment of the issues has been undertaken using data from 2022 and 2023.

This report includes quantitative data from various Canadian sources as well as a more in-depth discussion of vision care challenges through interviews with ophthalmologists and interviews and a survey of optometrists. One of the significant findings is that there is a demand to education the public about the need for regular eye exams and their eye health in order to allow for early treatment of eye diseases that may migrate or lead to vision loss.

Once again, on behalf of CCB and FBC, welcome and thank you for your attendance.

Jim Tokos, National President, Canadian Council of the Blind

Jennifer Jones, President & CEO, Fighting Blindness Canada

Conference Program

Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Toronto Reference Library

10:00 am: Introductions & Reconciliation
Michael Baillargeon
Senior Manager Eye Care Initiatives, Canadian Council of the Blind

10:08 am: Welcoming Remarks
Jim Tokos, National President, Canadian Council of the Blind
Jennifer Jones, President & CEO, Fighting Blindness Canada

10:15 am: Remembrance Day – Lest We Forget
Leslie Yee, First Vice-President, Canadian Council of the Blind

10:20 am: 2024 Vision Champion Award Presentation
Doctor Allison Scott, Vice-President, Canadian Association of Optometrists
Recipient Shelley Ann Morris

10:30 am: Update on Bill C-284
An Act to establish a national strategy for eye care.

10:45 am: Dr. Keith Gordon, Senior Research Officer, Canadian Council of the Blind

11:15 am: Ian White, President, CCB Toronto Visionaries, Canadian Council of the Blind

11:45 am: Dr. Larissa Moniz, Director, Research and Mission Programs, Fighting Blindness Canada
View the infographic here

12:00 pm: Lunch break

12:30 pm: Dr. Phil Hooper, FRCSC, Immediate Past President, Canadian Ophthalmological Society

12:45 pm: Dr. Allison Scott, Vice-President, Canadian Association of Optometrists

1:10 pm: Q&A with audience

1:55 pm: Closing Remarks

Sponsors

This report was made possible with support from our vision partners, AbbVie, Apellis, Astellas, Bayer, Biogen, Johnson & Johnson, MacuMira, Roche and Specsavers.

Thank you to our event sponsors : Abbvie, AMI, Apellis, Astellas, Bausch & Lomb, Bayer, Biogen, Johnson & Johnson, MacuMira, Roche, Specsavers and VIA Rail Canada