The BC government recently announced they would provide $20 million dollars over two years to support travel and lodging for cancer patients living in rural and remote areas of the province. 

This builds on last year's $10-million dollar investment. That 2023 investment saw just under 1400 cancer patients from 249 communities recieve travel-support funding, a 742% increase from the previous year.

In addition, over 11 thousand nights at Canadian Cancer Society lodges were provided free to patients last year, which was previously $55 a night. 

The provincial investment also helped patients who travelled to Vancouver for leukemia/bone-marrow transplants with a grant of as much as $4,000. 

Last year, those patients had to pay out of pocket for the costs of staying in Vancouver for as many as four months. North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice says that living with cancer is a challenge in itself, especially for those living in rural and remote communities.

"By partnering with the Canadian Cancer Society, we're supporting more patients by alleviating the challenge of logistics like booking and paying for travel, ensuring no cancer patient is left behind, regardless of where in B.C. they live." said Rice.

MLA for Skeena Ellis Ross says it's a good thing for cancer patients - but would prefer to see the program expanded.

"I also think that it shouldn't just be restricted to cancer treatment because there's other treatments that rural people have to access that costs just as much. Kidney transplants, for example. Anything to do with that? You or you have to travel to Victoria, Vancouver, or even elsewhere around B.C.. So it's a good thing to have it for cancer treatment. But we also should open up for medical treatment across the board"

Ross also says he's not sure it's enough money; 

"But for medical treatment, I just don't think 20 million is enough. And government knows the hardship that rural people go through in terms of expenses when trying to access health treatment. They know it. I mean, I brought the legislature myself. I talked to government about it and told them and they were aware of it. And the simplest answer I got was there's something that they didn't anticipate when they centralized health services. Okay, great. You acknowledge it, but you haven't really done anything to actually offset the cost. Now, all of a sudden we get an announcement specifically for cancer treatment costs. But I don't know how it's going to roll out. " 

As of 2021, Cancer remains the leading cause of death in Canada. An estimated 2 in 5 canadians will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, and it's estimated it will kill 1 in 4 Canadians.