Over 850 delegates, attendees and speakers from Canada, New Zealand and the Unites Stated gathered in Richmond Hill from Sunday June 8-10 for the Annual Hospice Palliative Care Ontario Conference. The 4 keynotes, 80 workshops, 52 lightning talks and 30 posters highlighted the Collaboration, Excellence and Innovation that is demonstrated across the hospice palliative care sector in Ontario.
Day 1:
HPCO2025 started with a warm welcome from Ogimaa-kwe Claire Sault, the elected Chief of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. Miskwaa Animkii Bnesii, a traditional knowledge keeper, shared teachings from his Anishinabek culture.
Conference co-chairs Nadine Valk and Amanda Maragos introduced and thanked our Program Advisory Committee and our abstract reviewers, before introducing our opening keynote speaker, Dr. Lucy Hone. Dr. Hone inspired us with the three secrets of resilient people – lessons she’s learned from both personal tragedy and decades of academic work.
We welcomed 77 people from across the province into the June Callwood Circle of Outstanding Volunteers. The June Callwood Award was established in 1994 to recognize and thank outstanding hospice volunteers throughout Ontario. Thank you and congratulations to all!
Kath Murray presented the Life and Death Matters Frances Montgomery Personal Support Worker Hospice Palliative Care Award to Myke Dyer, a PSW who consistently goes above and beyond for those in his care!
Following an engaging program of concurrent sessions, we came back together to hear Dr. Kathy Kortes-Miller deliver the Carmelita Lawlor Lecture. A perfect ending to a full day of learning and connecting with colleagues and friends.
Day 2:
Jeff Moat, Chief Executive Officer of Pallium Canada started Day 2 with an update on the Canadian Atlas of Palliative Care.
Melissa Langevin from our Comfort Level Sponsor, Umano Medical, greeted the delegates. Nancy Lefebre, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of our presenting sponsor, Saint Elizabeth Health, announced the launch of the new Saint Elizabeth Foundation Centre of Excellence for Health Equity and Specialized End-of-Life Care.
Our keynote speaker, Dr. Christopher Kerr, shared his research on patient’s subjective experiences at the end of life – highlighting the human experience of illness as witnessed from the bedside.
After a full day of learning, we came back together to celebrate at our Awards Gala:
- Abigail Brown presented the Mount Pleasant Group Hospice Innovation Award to Margaret’s Place Hospice for their “Hospice Heartbeats” – a music therapy core stethoscope legacy recording project.
- Abigail also introduced the new Equity in Action Award, which recognizes new or existing hospice-led initiatives that have improved access to hospice palliative care services for equity-deserving communities. Hospice Northwest is the inaugural recipient of this award.
- The Outstanding Philanthropist Award was presented to Doug and June Barber, who have been described as “the heart of Margaret’s Place Hospice.”
- The Dr. S. Lawrence Librach Award for Palliative Medicine in the Community was presented to Amit Arya, honouring his commitment to providing compassionate, collaborative, and equitable patient care.
- The Dr. Dorothy Ley Award of Excellence in Palliative Care was presented to Maria Panzera-Rugg, celebrating Maria’s 35-year career in hospice palliative care nursing.
Day 3:
We enjoyed two final rounds of concurrent sessions, before coming back together to congratulate our Best Poster and Best Oral Paper winners:
- Best Community-Based Poster: Margaret Paan, Bethell Hospice for A Grief and Bereavement Community Partnership: The Butterfly Project.
- Best Scientific Poster: Sophie Quastel, Jessica Hiseh, Raza Mirza, Christopher Klinger for Examining the Role of Social Work in MAiD Care: A Rapid Review of the Literature
- Best Lightning Talk: Aileen Gencturk and Cassie Wilson for Preparation for Practice: A Student-led Initiative to Enhance End of Life Care Conversations in Undergraduate Nursing Education
Delegates were entertained by Jessica Holmes, mental health comedian, who drew on inspiration from her own journey through depression and how she reconnected with her love of life and work in our closing keynote.
Rick Firth closed out the day by announcing the date of HPCO2026: June 14-16, 2026 and delivering a special thank you to our Conference Co-Chairs, Nadine Valk and Amanda Maragos and our Program Advisory Committee:
- Michelle Everets
- Rick Firth
- Val Fiset, PhD
- Melissa Horner
- Nadine Persaud, PhD
- Christine Pun, MD
- Jitin Sondi, MD
- Christopher Klinger, PhD
- Vivian Papaiz, PhD
Thank you once again to our Presenting Sponsor, Saint Elizabeth Foundation, our Care Champion Sponsors Umano Medical and Mount Pleasant Group, and our Comfort Level Sponsors InfoAnywhere and HealthPro Canada. We couldn’t do this without your support!
See you next year!
