Summer Newsletter

Summer has us soaking up the sunshine, enjoying the longer days, and embracing a little extra rest. After all, pacing isn’t just good advice for living with arthritis—it’s how we do summer, too. We’ll be back in full swing this September for Arthritis Awareness Month with a focus on preparing for the flu season.

In the meantime, here’s a quick roundup of what we’ve been up to.

News Roundup

Menopause and Bone Health: Webinar recording and survey now available

On July 10, 2026, CAPA hosted a webinar exploring menopause and bone health through lived experience, research, and care perspectives. Watch the webinar recordings now: Research Presentation (Part 1) and Panel Discussion (Part 2).

If you attended our Menopause and Bone Health webinar or have feedback to share, we’d appreciate it if you could complete our short 3-minute survey. The survey is open to all!

CAPA President Linda Wilhelm and Luyanda Majija, Director of the Partnership for Women’s Wellness, recently held a discussion on protecting healthy and active aging for women with chronic inflammatory conditions. This webinar, hosted by the Global Remission Coalition (GRC), shares practical approaches to support informed decision-making and help maintain a long, healthy, and active life. Watch the webinar recording to learn more!

Have you experienced chronic health conditions during pregnancy?

A new research study on pregnancy and chronic health conditions is looking for participants! The Body Mapping to Advance Perinatal Care study, led by researchers at the University of Toronto) is exploring experiences of pregnancy care and chronic health conditions using art and creative methods. Learn more on our website!

People living with arthritis often develop practical solutions, workarounds, and strategies to remain independent in daily life, but these ideas are rarely connected, shared, evaluated, or integrated into healthcare, research, technology, and policy. CAPA’s  research project Building the Evidence to Living Independently with Arthritis: A Patient-Led Research Partnership aimed to help bridge that gap by identifying priorities and building collaboration between patients, occupational therapists, researchers, engineers, makers, and designers. The key highlights of the action plan are described in the document on our website and reflect the key themes identified through these discussions.

Could pharmacies ease ongoing drug shortage in-house?

In a recent Ottawa Citizen article, CAPA’s Managing Director Laurie Proulx shared a patient perspective on Ontario’s drug shortages and the potential role of compounding pharmacies in helping fill gaps in medication access. Read the article to learn more.

CAPA has recently contributed patient perspectives through submissions to Canada’s Drug Agency (CDA), as well as patient input submissions in Ontario, Quebec, and BC, on several arthritis treatments. This includes Upadacitinib (Rinvoq) for polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), Guselkumab for psoriatic arthritis, and Secukinumab for polyarticular JIA. Learn more and view our submissions on our website.

The government has completed the regulatory process to provide a supplemental payment of $150 to all Canada Disability Benefit recipients to help reduce the costs of obtaining the disability tax credit (DTC). More information about these changes, including a summary of the Regulations as of September 1, 2026, is available online: About the Canada Disability Benefit program.

The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre is seeking participants for a survey on the experiences of new parents with arthritis. The results will be used to develop resources supporting the mental health of new parents with inflammatory arthritis. Participants will be compensated for their time. See the study website to learn more and sign up.

Artwork from Natalie Boivin

We are proud to share Through the Darkness, a powerful watercolour piece created by Natalie Boivin, a member of the CAPA community, and featured in the exhibition at the Canadian Pain Society meeting as part of Shaping the Future of Pain Science. This piece won first place in the exhibition competition! View Natalie’s artwork.