79% of Canadians without diabetes back workplace training for staff with diabetes
Nine percent of people living with diabetes in Canada have experienced judgement, blame, assumptions or stigma from workplaces, and 79 percent of people without diabetes support workplace training to better support people living with the condition.
Environics Research surveyed Canadians for Diabetes Canada’s first national benchmark survey on public perception of diabetes and diabetes-related stigma, released as the organisation launched its Diabetes Awareness Campaign in November.
Thirty percent of people without diabetes indicated they may have a role in reducing diabetes stigma but are not sure what that role is.
Support ran highest for health-care provider education on stigma-free diabetes care at 85 percent, public education campaigns at 82 percent, and changing how diabetes is discussed in media and public campaigns at 80 percent.
Family was the most frequently identified source at 22 percent, followed by friends at 15 percent, health-care settings at 13 percent and workplaces at nine percent.
Thirty-three percent of people with diabetes agree that some people blame them for having diabetes or think they brought it on themselves.
Eleven percent of people without diabetes have a colleague with diabetes.
Laura Syron, president and chief executive officer of Diabetes Canada, who lives with type 2 diabetes, said in the organisation’s campaign announcement that stigma “shows up at family dinners, workplace meetings and group chats with friends.”
Syron said reducing it is not about accusing people of cruelty or discrimination but about giving Canadians practical tips for supporting others.
Among people without diabetes, 51 percent indicated it is true that diabetes can be avoided with physical activity and a balanced diet, 47 percent that it is caused by lifestyle choices, and 43 percent that it is caused by consuming too much sugar.
Fifty-five percent do not know that type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, and 76 percent agree people with diabetes should limit or avoid eating sugary food or drinks.
Diabetes Canada states that type 2 diabetes is a complex condition with many risk factors in which the pancreas cannot make enough insulin or does not properly use the insulin it makes, and that type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition in which immune cells attack the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas.
The campaign directs people to myth-busting resources and facts about diabetes and to its How to Be a Diabetes Ally tip sheet.
Diabetes Canada’s Social Experiences of Living with Diabetes in Canada report found that 86 percent of respondents with type 1 diabetes and 69 percent with type 2 reported experiencing blame or shame, that 31 percent reported being treated differently, that 31 percent experience diabetes distress, and that more than half rarely or never seek support when they need it.
On its Diabetes Awareness Month page, Diabetes Canada cites a 2025 survey in which 52 percent believed diabetes affects a person’s ability to do certain jobs.
Panellists at the 2026 Canadian Pensions and Benefits Institute Forum in Quebec City addressed diabetes sick day management and early intervention in the workplace.
Sun Life’s Designed for Health report, based on more than 1.5 million Canadians with disability insurance, found long-term disability claimants are nearly three times more likely to have a diabetes-related drug claim, with diabetes drug claims up 30 percent between 2019 and 2023.
Marie-Chantal Côté, senior vice-president of Sun Life Health, has pointed to self-stigma and evolving workplace dynamics among the factors shaping return to work.
Researchers at the Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec at Université Laval are working to establish obesity as a chronic medical condition rather than a question of willpower, CTV News reported.
“The biggest myth is really to move more and eat less [to] eradicate obesity and weight problems,” Marianne Legault, a dietitian with IUCPQ-ULaval, told CTV News.
The 2026 Denis Richard Symposium, held November 10 in Quebec City, brings together science, clinical expertise and lived experience on obesity, the outlet reported.
