The 'prison' of toxic masculinity can keep men from seeking medical care. Canada wants to fix that
CBC
As the COVID-19 pandemic began to unfold in early April 2020, Kolter Bouchard was just weeks into fatherhood when he noticed a lump on his neck.
The then-29-year-old-Toronto radio host feared it was cancer, but he waited to get it checked. Maybe it was just stress, he thought.
“Part of it was, I like to take a ‘Wait and hope it’ll go away’ approach,” Bouchard told The Current’s Matt Galloway.
It wasn’t until he discovered a second lump a month later that Bouchard went to see his doctor. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease.
“I had flashes when I was thinking this might be cancer,” said Bouchard. “I thought, ‘I don’t want to look like that. I don’t want to be a withered … husk of my current self.’”
His experience isn’t unusual.
Researchers and health advocates say many men delay seeking care, even when symptoms appear — a trend the federal government says it hopes to reverse by developing a strategy focused on improving men’s and boys’ health.
Recent data from Statistics Canada show men are experiencing distinct health challenges, including higher rates of suicide, substance abuse, and premature or preventable death.
“Too often, the message men and boys hear is to tough it out, to stay quiet and to deal with it alone,” Minister of Women and Gender Equality Rechie Valdez said at the news conference in February.
Health Canada says the strategy, set to be released later this year, aims to foster “supportive and safe environments, challenge harmful stereotypes, reduce stigma, and encourage men of all ages to seek help when they need it.”
A common thread in some of the statistics mirrors Bouchard’s story; waiting for care. About 65 per cent of men waited at least six days before seeking help for symptoms, according to a September 2025 report released by Movember, a men’s health advocacy organization. And nearly one in 10 delay care for more than two years, according to the results.
Those numbers don’t surprise Dr. David Kuhl, a professor in the faculty of medicine at the University of British Columbia who studies how trauma, masculinity and fatherhood shape men’s health.
Kuhl, who works closely with firefighters, says he often sees Canadian men avoid getting health care because they feel it challenges their identity as men — a belief shaped in part by broader cultural messaging.
“At the heart of it is the messages that they’ve been given about what it means to be a man,” said Kuhl. “It ends there in terms of ‘I don’t ask for help, I’m independent, I suppress some of my emotions and I’m isolated in that.”
For decades, paralympians have been landing on the podium with help from advances in prosthetics, including lighter, more flexible materials. But while similar technology is often available to many people living with disabilities, high costs can put it out of reach.
Out in the distance in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, 15-year-old Sophia Johnston heard a familiar sound — a team of sled dogs barking.
The SPF number printed on a bottle of sunscreen — meant to convey how much protection you’re getting — doesn't always match what's inside, a new CBC Marketplace investigation has found. That means Canadians who rely on sunscreen to protect themselves from the sun may be left with a false sense of security.
Canadian pediatricians call for cholesterol checks for kids as young as 2 to catch heart risks early
The Canadian Paediatric Society is recommending cholesterol screening for all children between two and 10 years old.