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Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in Canada, with an estimated one in eight men expected to be diagnosed in their lifetime.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Leading cancer organizations, in an open letter, are calling on a national panel on preventative health to immediately review its guidance for prostate cancer, which has not been updated for more than a decade.
The Canadian Cancer Society, Movember Canada, The Walnut Foundation, and the Canadian Urological Association are among 11 organizations, advocates and researchers in prostate cancer who released the letter Tuesday calling on the National Advisory Committee on Preventative Health Services to revise their recommendations.
The signatories said the current guideline, which is that prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing is not recommended for any age, is out of step with clinical practice. They argue that it must be updated to advance cancer detection and prevention and to ultimately save lives.
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“What we have now is a guideline that is frozen in time from over a decade ago,” the letter states. “We are asking that Canadians receive what they should reasonably expect from a national advisory body: a fair, transparent and timely review of the evidence as it exists today.”
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in Canada, with an estimated one in eight men expected to be diagnosed in their lifetime. The risk nearly doubles for Black men, who are often diagnosed at a younger age.
The national advisory committee, a new 14-person body, was announced by Ottawa in June. It is tasked with creating guidelines to support primary-care health professionals and teams in their delivery of preventive health services. An older version of the group was shut down more than a year earlier after it faced intense criticism for not lowering the screening age for breast cancer to 40 from 50.
The formal guidance for prostate cancer has not been updated since 2014, when the panel concluded that harms outweighed the benefits of PSA screening. The simple blood test can serve as an early warning signal of cancer in men with no symptoms.
Some of the concerns noted include overdiagnosis – the detection of cancers that would not progress to cause symptoms or death – and the prevalence of false-positive results.
The committee is an independent advisory body to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Mark Johnson, a spokesperson with the national agency, said in a statement that the committee “will begin to identify and prioritize potential topics for future guideline development” in the coming months. He said both bodies are reviewing the open letter.
Brandon Purcell, an advocacy manager with the Canadian Cancer Society, said in an interview that the outdated recommendation continues to have real-world consequences, pointing to the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia who do not cover the cost of PSA testing for asymptomatic men with a physician referral.
He’s hopeful that new guidance would influence both provinces to update their policies, helping to ensure that the most at-risk groups can access testing.
“The truth with all cancers is that the earlier you find it, the more likely survival is,” said Mr. Purcell. “With prostate cancer, the difference really is staggering. When you’re able to find it at an earlier stage, the likelihood of survival is almost 100 per cent.”
Once the cancer spreads beyond the prostate, the survival rate drops significantly, “which is why it makes all the difference in the world to find it early.”
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Since the 2014 recommendation, advancements have been made in the diagnosis and management of prostate cancer that help mitigate issues of overdiagnosis and overtreatment. For example, screening is shifting away from PSAs and rectal exams to targeted prebiopsy imaging and newer blood tests.
There is also greater emphasis now on the relationship between doctors and patients, who together make informed decisions about testing.
A study published in September, 2025, concluded that Canada’s screening approach should be reconsidered. The authors said the current strategy may amplify harms and disparities, especially among populations at highest risk.
Anthony Henry, president of The Walnut Foundation, a Canadian charity that provides support to Black men with prostate cancer and their families, said there must be greater awareness, especially in the Black community, on the benefits of screening early.
The foundation, alongside the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, has recently started a free screening program in Toronto for Black men aged 40 and over. He said between 14 and 22 per cent of the people tested, depending on the population, require follow-up.
“It tells you there that there’s a problem,” said Mr. Henry, whose father died of prostate cancer, and who himself started screening at 40.
“My brother went on at age 57 to have prostate cancer. I went on to have prostate cancer at 53 and my uncle in his late 60s. What’s different between the three of us that survived from my dad is he wasn’t screened.”
Cancer organizations, in the open letter, highlighted that, since 2014, researchers have gained a better understanding of which men are at highest risk, including those with a family history and excess weight. The use of MRIs for diagnosing has also helped to reduce unnecessary biopsies, they noted.
Each year that passes without an update is a disservice to physicians and patients, said the group.
“Prioritizing prostate cancer would send a clear signal to patients, healthcare providers and health organizations across Canada that the era of woefully outdated guidance is coming to an end,” the letter states.