The Slaight Family Foundation Dementia Initiative, now in its second year, continues to bring together leading Canadian organizations dedicated to advancing brain health, reducing dementia risk and improving the lives of people living with dementia and their care partners. In this sixth edition, we spotlight how partners across Canada are building on this momentum by turning research, innovation and community insights into practical tools, programs and more inclusive approaches to brain health and dementia care.

National Institute on Ageing: Advancing conversations and care around dementia

Small Steps, Big Difference campaign launches

The NIA has launched the second year of Small Steps, Big Difference, a national public education campaign encouraging Canadians to feel more confident starting conversations when they notice changes in memory, thinking, behaviour or mood in themselves or someone they care about.

Recognizing these changes and starting a conversation can be an important first step toward getting answers, care and support. Made possible through the generous support of the Slaight Family Foundation, this year’s campaign includes new resources to help Canadians approach these conversations with greater confidence and compassion.

Learn more and access campaign resources at SmallStepsBigDifference.ca.

New Report: Addressing Dementia in Canada

The NIA has launched Addressing Dementia in Canada: The Current State, Challenges and Opportunities for Improving Care for People Living with Dementia, the second report in its three-year annual series examining the state of dementia care in Canada.

With hundreds of thousands of Canadians living with dementia, the report highlights persistent challenges throughout the dementia care journey, including delays in diagnosis, gaps in primary care access, inconsistent post-diagnostic supports, poorly coordinated care and barriers to equitable and culturally safe care.

The report identifies four priorities for strengthening dementia care in Canada: establishing national dementia care standards, supporting care providers to adopt best practices, improving equity and inclusivity and creating common metrics to measure progress.

Together, these priorities provide a roadmap for greater consistency, coordination and accountability across Canada, helping ensure that people living with dementia and their caregivers can access high-quality care and support, no matter where they live.

ICYMI: Addressing Dementia in Canada webinar

To mark the launch of the report, the NIA brought together an expert panel to discuss the current state of dementia care in Canada, the challenges people face throughout the dementia journey and opportunities to improve care and support.

The webinar explored what needs to change to create a more coordinated and equitable approach to dementia care across the country. It also marked the launch of the second report in the NIA’s three-part annual Addressing Dementia in Canada series.

Baycrest: Advancing Brain Health and Aging Innovation

Baycrest Inspires Action for Better Brain Health

Baycrest is expanding access to practical tools and resources that empower Canadians to support their brain health.

Introducing Baycrest@Home: Helping More Older Adults Age Well at Home

Baycrest recently launched Baycrest@Home, a new online platform that brings together Baycrest’s trusted programs, services and expert resources in one place, helping older adults, caregivers, families and healthcare professionals access the support they need with confidence.

Baycrest@Home also lists other initiatives funded through the Slaight Family Foundation’s Dementia Initiative, making it simple for users to discover and access the innovative supports developed through the Foundation’s partnerships.

Resources are organized into three key areas: Healthy Aging, which includes programs that support brain health and dementia risk reduction; Community Care, which connects users with specialized clinics and services for cognitive impairment, memory loss and other aging-related needs; and Caregiver Support, which offers practical tools and resources for those caring for a loved one living with dementia.

By bringing together Baycrest’s extensive expertise in one place, Baycrest@Home is making it easier for older adults, caregivers, families and healthcare professionals to find the right support, whenever and wherever they need it.

Access Baycrest@Home here.

Defy Dementia: Turning Brain Health Research into Action

Research continues to show that there are steps people can take to support their brain health and reduce their dementia risk. Through its award-nominated podcast, public events and online resources, Defy Dementia is helping make this knowledge accessible by translating science into practical, evidence-based information people can use in their everyday lives.

Since the start of the Slaight Family Foundation’s support, Defy Dementia has released 24 podcast episodes, generated more than 1.36 million downloads, welcomed more than 52,000 website visits and hosted 25 public events.

Left to Right: Dr. Stuart McDonald, Jay Ingram, Dr. Alex Henri-Bhargava, Joe Ross, Amy Cameron, Dr. Mariko Sakamoto and Dr. Allison Sekuler at the Defy Dementia on the Road event in Victoria, BC, on July 7, 2026

On September 27, Defy Dementia also participated in the S.T.R.I.V.E. Health & Wellness Symposium, showcasing the modifiable risk factors for dementia.

Discover practical steps to support your brain health and listen to Defy Dementia at www.defydementia.ca/

C-CART® Expands to Support French-Speaking Caregivers 

The Canadian Caregiver Assessment and Resources Tool (C-CART®) continues to expand its reach and accessibility for caregivers across Canada. The platform is now available in French, giving French-speaking caregivers access to the same personalized assessment and tailored local, provincial and national resources. C-CART® has also launched a new chatbot feature to help caregivers understand the resources recommended based on their individual needs, making it easier to identify and access the supports most relevant to them.

To see how C-CART® works, watch a short demonstration video here.

Brain Health Assessments and Workshops

Click here to learn more about upcoming workshops and find one in your community. Workshops are free, although some centres may require membership.

The program has reached more than 8,800 Ontarians through over 100 in-person and virtual sessions, helping expand access to brain health education and practical tools including Cogniciti’s free online Brain Health Assessment and Smart Tracker tool.

The Kimel Family Centre Reaches a New Milestone

Baycrest’s Kimel Family Centre for Brain Health and Wellness has reached an important milestone, welcoming more than 1,000 participants into its study.

As interest in the Centre’s programming continues to grow, it will offer more than 460 programs this fall.

The Centre is also advancing its research, with the team currently analyzing changes from baseline to six months. The team is preparing findings for submission to a peer-reviewed journal, adding to the growing body of evidence emerging from the program.

To learn more about the Centre, please visit https://kimelcentre.baycrest.org

Belmont House: Advancing Compassionate, Person-Centred Care

QUIS and the Butterfly Model of Care at Belmont House

The Butterfly Model of Care is shaped by the quality, nature and consistency of the interactions between staff and residents. It moves beyond task-focused care by emphasizing meaningful relationships, emotional connection, and a deep understanding of each resident as an individual. Meaningful Care Matters (MCM) uses the Quality of Interactions Schedule (QUIS), an observational tool that captures and evaluates the interactions between staff and residents. 

The QUIS dates back to 1989, when Clark and Bowling conducted observational research on interactions between staff and people living in long-stay hospital units and nursing homes. They broadly categorized interactions as positive, negative, or neutral, noting whether staff treated residents as individuals or primarily as patients receiving care. Dean et al. (1993) later adapted the QUIS, expanding the observational framework into five categories, as shown in the chart below. 

The QUIS has been academically evaluated in different contexts, including residential units for older people with severe mental illness and acute care settings. Reliability and validity studies in acute care settings have further contributed to the evidence base for the QUIS (Paudel, Resnick, Galik, 2020 & 2021). Each study has underscored the relationship between QUIS observations and the practice of person-centred care. As such, it is no wonder MCM has used this tool as a core measure to capture the degree of compassionate and emotion-centred care delivered in Butterfly Homes. 

MCM uses the following categories and descriptions:

Belmont House has adapted our Butterfly training program to formally incorporate adult learning principles, with an emphasis on experiential and reflective learning. This enables staff to actively engage with the concepts and apply them to their everyday interactions with residents. Staff gain an understanding not only of what is observed in a QUIS but also how to conduct a QUIS themselves.

CAMH: Advancing Technology-Enabled Dementia Care in Long-Term Care

CAMH: Supporting Cognitive Health in Community Housing

The Improving Cognition in Older Adults in Community Housing (ICOACH) project, and its next phase through the Enhancing Neurocognitive Health in Aging with Neurostimulation and Cognitive Remediation (ENHANCR) study, advances meaningful solutions for older adults living with severe mental illness.

Older adults living in supportive community housing often experience cognitive decline alongside social isolation and reduced physical activity, which can significantly compromise independence and quality of life. ICOACH and ENHANCR address these challenges through an integrated model that combines structured social and physical activities, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and Cognitive Remediation (CR). The ultimate goal of this integrated intervention is to improve cognitive functions such as memory, attention and problem-solving in order to enhance daily life.

ICOACH demonstrated that this multi-component approach to treatment is both feasible and well tolerated in community housing settings. Participant feedback highlighted the emotional, social and cognitive benefits of the program, describing renewed confidence, increased satisfaction and connection. 

Building community capacity remains central to this initiative. Two personal support workers are trained to deliver the intervention for program sustainability and future scalability. We are translating this novel intervention to the Geriatric Outpatient Services at CAMH starting in Fall 2026. Grounded in evidence and lived experience, this work has the potential to shape how supportive housing and outpatient clinical environments address cognitive and mental health needs to ensure better care for older adults.

Egale Canada: Advancing Inclusive Dementia Care for 2SLGBTQI Communities

Egale Canada’s Help Us Remain: Bringing Identity-Based Dementia Care to Life

Since 2024, Egale's Help Us Remain initiative, funded by the Slaight Family Foundation, has been working to close a critical gap in Canada's dementia care system: the near-total absence of training and resources for delivering identity-affirming care to 2SLGBTQI people. After a year of research and community consultation, the project has moved into full production. A national advisory committee and 15 subject matter experts from partner organizations, including Baycrest, Sunnybrook and the National Institute on Ageing are now shaping every stage of development, and the Help Us Remain awareness campaign has expanded into new cities across the country.

At the heart of this work are interactive, character-based e-learning scenarios now in active development for the National Resource Centre on 2SLGBTQI Aging (NRCA). Each module places learners at a pivotal moment in a 2SLGBTQI person's dementia care journey — from early-onset diagnosis to end-of-life care — building the real-world skills and confidence care providers need to support 2SLGBTQI people and their chosen families with dignity. Fully bilingual and paired with a library of companion microlearning resources, the modules are on track to launch on the NRCA by the end of 2026. Watch this space.

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre: The Power of Social Connection in Toronto Seniors Housing

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre: Advance Care Planning in Toronto Seniors Housing

The Sunnybrook Brain Health Project now serves over 300 tenants across four Toronto Seniors Housing buildings. Through the co-development of a dementia care pathway with tenants with lived experience, the importance of advance care planning (ACP) was highlighted. The tenants supported by the project continue to express a desire to plan for their future health care. Overwhelmingly, tenants want to stay in their own homes for as long as possible while living meaningful, socially engaged and safe lives. They also want health care that aligns with their values and wishes while knowing what questions to ask their health care teams. 

In summer 2026, we launched our ACP strategy. This three-pronged approach includes education of our own team about facilitating ACP conversations, outreach events for tenants, and ACP-focused clinics right where tenants live. Our goal is to support and document 100 conversations. We are offering barrier-free support with issues like Power of Attorney and estate planning. 

Tenant Highlight: Dale and Natalia

Our team first got involved in working with Dale and Natalia in their capacity as tenant leaders. They work with a team of tenants in their building to develop and execute social programming for their community. With their support and community connections, we co-developed a list of advance care planning topics relevant to tenants and launched our first education sessions. The community is looking forward to their ACP clinic in September.

Together, the Slaight Family Foundation Dementia Initiative Partners are reshaping how we approach brain health and creating lasting impact for people living with dementia and their care partners. Learn more here.