Last month, the Government of Canada announced the 2021 call for proposals for Health Canada's Substance Use and Addictions Program (SUAP). The program provides financial support to projects addressing substance use, including harm reduction and treatment initiatives across the country. This year, SUAP announced $116 million will be awarded to initiatives serving the priority populations outlined in its call for proposals, including Indigenous peoples, racialized communities, LGBTQ2S communities and, for the first time, people living with chronic pain.

The inclusion of people living with pain as a priority population is long overdue. We know unmanaged pain can be a significant driver of substance use and overdose. This announcement also demonstrates the calls to action outlined in the Canadian Pain Task Force’s third report to Health Canada are being heard.

The 2021 SUAP call for proposals is open to Canadian non-profit health organizations, registered charities, institutions, other levels of governments, and First Nations, Métis and Inuit non-profit organizations. The deadline to submit proposals is September 24, 2021. If you are involved in initiatives that support people living with pain and address substance use (either through upstream efforts to prevent it, through treatment or through harm reduction), I encourage you to learn more and submit a proposal for funding.

It’s encouraging to see federal momentum building around the issue of unmanaged pain in response to the Canadian Pain Task Force’s recommendations. There are many more targeted actions outlined in An Action Plan for Pain in Canada that will improve health outcomes for the nearly eight million people who live with pain in Canada. Whether you live with pain or are a caregiver, a health care provider, or an organization who cares about the issue of pain, I encourage you to read the report and join the thousands of individuals and organizations across the country calling for further action. Learn more about how you can get involved at www.paincanada.ca.

Canada’s 2021 federal election is a critical time to raise awareness of chronic pain. Your experiences, insights and ideas matter to political candidates and can help improve care for Canadians with pain.

That’s why we’ve worked with our partners from the #PrioritizePain campaign to launch a nonpartisan toolkit to help individuals and organizations be heard on the issue of pain during Canada’s federal election. The toolkit contains French and English social media tools, including sample messages and social media graphics, a customizable letter template to write to your local candidates, and resources to find your candidates and their contact information. We encourage you to add your voice to the conversation by using the tools and the hashtag #PrioritizePain.

In this month’s episode of the Pain Waves podcast, we’re joined by Dr. Melanie Noel, an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Calgary. She talks to us about her latest research on children’s memories of pain and how she is teaching parents to talk to their kids differently about pain in order to foster more positive memories. She also shares what’s next for her research on children’s pain and how her recent appointment as the first-ever Killam Memorial Emerging Leader Chair will enable her to take her research and work to new heights.

We're excited to partner with Providence Health Care again this year to offer an incredible day of learning about back pain – all without leaving your home or office! The Interdisciplinary Pain Education Day (IPED) annual conference features presentations from renowned health care providers, researchers and people with pain. This year's conference theme is dedicated to back pain and will feature:

We're looking for a full-time, temporary Instructional Designer who can help design Pain BC’s educational programs for health care providers, people living with pain, and our volunteer community.

The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) has created a toolkit intended to support employers in addressing employee substance use in the trades, which includes a list of prevention resources, education resources and a section on pain management.

Providence Health Care Research Institute is hosting its first-ever Hacking Pain event on November 26 and 27, 2021 to tackle some of the challenges faced by people with lived experience and the community when dealing with pain. People from a diverse range of backgrounds, including people with pain, caregivers and health care providers, are invited to attend and work together to come up with solutions for challenges related to pain. Register to participate or submit a pain-related problem by September 20, 2021.

The Disability Foundation and affiliated societies are hiring people with disabilities for paid part-time positions in communications, fundraising, operations, data entry and more! Anyone interested in joining their team is encouraged to submit their resume to [email protected].

The Pain Society of Alberta is hosting the World Pain Summit virtually on October 15-17, 2021. Registration costs range from $49.00 to $99.00 for health care providers, while people living with pain and medical students are invited to attend for free.

The UBC School of Nursing and SFU School of Interactive Arts + Technology are looking for people with cancer, who also experience chronic pain, to test the use of immersive multimedia experiences as a form of pain management. Research participants can complete the study from their homes and will be provided with an honorarium for their time. More information on the study, including eligibility, can be accessed here. To apply, please contact Crystal Sun, Project Manager at [email protected].

The Government of Canada has launched a public consultation to hear from Canadians on how it can improve the lives of people with disabilities. Input received from this consultation will support the development of a Disability Inclusion Action Plan. Anyone interested in participating is encouraged to share their feedback before the September 30, 2021 deadline.

The Chronic Pain Centre of Excellence for Canadian Veterans, University of Calgary, and PEAK Champions for Kids' Pain are conducting an online study to learn more about pain and resilience in Canadian veterans and their families. Anyone interested in learning more or applying is encouraged to email [email protected].