Quebec moves from pap tests to more sensitive HPV screening in effort to catch cancer early
CBC
Jennifer Curran was diagnosed with cervical cancer five years ago while she was pregnant with her daughter.
She had to navigate treatment while fighting for two lives.
“Part of that treatment was to plan when I should have a C-section, so when my daughter should be born, making sure she was old enough to be born, and cancer didn’t progress,” she said.
She discovered the cancer by accident during a hospital visit — it wasn’t part of routine testing during pregnancy.
“They do all kinds of testing when you’re pregnant and it hasn't come up,” said Curran.
Her story highlights a broader issue, her doctor says: most cervical cancers are preventable with better screening. Dr. Annie Leung, a gynecologic oncologist at the MUHC, noted the importance of early detection.
Quebec is working to change that. By mid-2026, the province plans to complete the rollout of a new human papillomavirus (HPV) screening test, catching up with Ontario, Prince Edward Island and British Columbia.
The province is moving away from the traditional pap test to this more sensitive HPV test, which can detect risks sooner. When cervical cancer is caught early through regular screening, the five-year survival rate is 90 per cent.
This is not the traditional pap test. The new HPV screening is more sensitive, more accurate and can detect HPV before cells become abnormal — changing how cervical cancer is identified and prevented, an MUHC spokesperson explained in an email.
Back in 2022, Quebec’s health ministry announced plans to replace pap tests with HPV tests as the main tool for cervical cancer screening. The HPV test, which detects high-risk types of HPV, will be offered to women aged 25 to 65 every five years, the ministry said at the time.
Over the last four years, Quebec has been gradually rolling out this testing method region by region. Montreal is among the five regions that still don't offer the service. However, Quebec says everyone in the province should be able to access these HPV tests — recommended by the provincial health institute (INESSS) since 2017 — by the end of this year.
The shift toward HPV testing is central to Leung’s work, particularly in northern and remote Indigenous communities where cervical cancer rates remain among the highest in Canada.
The reason is not genetics but long-standing barriers to access, the spokesperson said.
“We want to encourage women to get tested and screened,” said Leung.
In a week where President Donald Trump says the U.S. doesn’t need cars made in Canada, the Dodge Charger Sixpack — made in Windsor, Ont. — is in the running to win car of the year at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this morning.
An Ontario man has reached a settlement agreement with Boeing almost seven years after six of his family members died in a plane crash.
Severe weather has lead to several highway closures across northern Ontario Wednesday morning.
Several Durham police officers diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) say they believe the service isolated them from the day they went on mental health leave and has not provided them any meaningful support.
The City of Toronto’s 2026 budget offers relief many homeowners were looking for in its property tax increase, but it also lays bare the massive amount of infrastructure work hanging over the city in the coming years which, in some cases, may be deferred.
The University of Guelph says it is offering assistance to help students stranded in Iran after a petition was started asking for more to be done by the school.
There may be some relief in sight this flu season — though it may not feel like it right now.
Students will be back in class on Wednesday morning at Robert Service School in Dawson City.
The Canadian Armed Forces would need to buy 72 Gripen fighter jets and six GlobalEye surveillance aircraft for Swedish manufacturer Saab to deliver on its pledge of creating 12,600 jobs in Canada, CBC News has learned.
When news broke of U.S. forces attacking and seizing Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro earlier this month, Barry Blacklock’s phone began buzzing.
Quebec is projected to surpass 600 drug overdose deaths for a second consecutive year and experts are repeating calls for the province to do more to curb this trend.
Warning: Images included in this story may be disturbing for some readers.
Police are turning to the public for help identifying a man they say is being sought in connection with the alleged sexual assault Sunday of a 15-year-old girl in the city's west end.