Nearly 6,000 Canadians shaped findings that will steer Ottawa’s first men’s health strategy in 2027
Health Canada’s What We Heard report on men and boys’ health, released Monday, names workplace policy as a barrier to men seeking help and will inform Canada’s first Federal Men and Boys’ Health and Well-being Strategy, due in early 2027.
The report said participants raised concerns that some workplace policies discourage workers from asking for help.
It called on employers to protect workplace safety while directing workers to support before a situation becomes a crisis.
Men make up more than 90 percent of Canada’s skilled trades workforce.
Workers in trades, transportation and equipment operation recorded the highest rate of death from drug or alcohol poisoning among employed Canadians between 2016 and 2021, at 19 deaths for every 100,000 workers each year.
Men accounted for 72 percent of opioid-related deaths in Canada in 2024, with people aged 30 to 39 making up about 28 percent of them.
Participants called for peer support, supervisor and overdose-response training, clear information about chronic pain and the illegal drug supply, and services that reach rural and remote worksites.
Plan sponsors already weighing whether to bring addictions and mental health support in-house face the same access questions the report raises.
In defence and security, men accounted for about 84 percent of Regular Force members, 79 percent of Royal Canadian Mounted Police regular members and 77 percent of police officers in 2024.
In 2023, 79 percent of men reported having a regular health care provider, compared with 87 percent of women, the report notes.
A 2025 Movember Canada survey cited in the report found 65 percent of men waited more than six days after noticing symptoms before visiting a doctor.
Insurers have made a parallel case about gender gaps in group benefits design.
Among men aged 15 to 24, the share describing their mental health as “very good” or “excellent” fell from 80 percent to 64 percent between 2012 and 2022.
Over the same period, the share reporting a mood disorder rose from 11 percent to 16 percent.
Substance use cost Canada an estimated $49.1bn in 2020, the report says, including $22.4bn in lost productivity and $13.4bn in health care costs.
Movember Canada’s 2025 study The Real Face of Men’s Health put potential savings from improved men’s health at $12.4bn annually, with billions more in increased productivity, according to Health Canada’s news release.
Asked where stereotypes about masculinity primarily come from, 4.0 percent of questionnaire respondents named workplace culture, behind family upbringing or environment at 24.9 percent and social media, online networks and influencers at 18.7 percent.
Respondents identified starting work as the life transition needing most support in 10.1 percent of responses and retirement in 6.5 percent.
One participant quoted in the report said the goal is to “meet them where they are,” naming trades and workplaces, recreational sport and gaming communities, schools and neighbourhoods, and “the digital spaces where their social lives unfold.”
Marjorie Michel, Minister of Health, said in the Health Canada news release that “nearly 6,000 people from across Canada took part in our national conversation on men and boys’ health.”
She said participants reported that too many men and boys are struggling, “often without the support they need.”
WestCentralOnline reported that jobs and families minister Patty Hajdu said at the launch of the national conversation in February 2026 that workplace pressures in sectors such as the skilled trades needed to be addressed.
“When stress and injury are normalized and vulnerability is stigmatized, too many men suffer in silence,” she said.
