Proton therapy in Canada

Proton therapy is not yet available in Canada. This page explains what that means today, how Canadians reach treatment now, and what is being planned.

The picture today

Canada has no operating proton therapy centre today. Because of that, Canadians who need proton therapy are treated abroad. Most are treated in the United States. This is a matter of capacity, not recognition. Provinces and territories do recognise proton therapy. They run programs that can pay for it abroad when it is medically necessary and not available in Canada.

Canada’s one proton treatment program was a research facility in Vancouver. From 1995, TRIUMF worked with BC Cancer and the UBC Eye Care Centre. It treated eye (ocular) melanoma with protons, and only that. It treated about ten patients a year. According to TRIUMF’s own page, it was decommissioned in 2019, after treating more than 200 patients over about 25 years. If eye melanoma is your situation, your oncologist assesses current options for ocular melanoma. Those options may still involve treatment abroad.

Planned centres in Canada

Canada has taken steps toward its own proton therapy capacity. These are announcements, not open centres. (Last updated: 15 July 2026)

• Ontario, at University Health Network in Toronto. In April 2022, the Government of Ontario announced a CAD 5 million planning grant. The grant is to assess and design what UHN describes as Canada’s first hospital-based proton therapy centre, in Toronto. No construction decision, budget, or opening timeline has been made public since.
• Alberta, near Edmonton. In March 2024, WestCan announced a privately funded centre of about CAD 120 million. The centre, the Ben Stelter Proton Therapy and Neuroscience Centre, is planned near the University of Alberta’s Cross Cancer Institute and Stollery Children’s Hospital. The design is by Stantec, with clinical training support from Penn Radiation Oncology. About 400 to 450 patients a year are foreseen. A confirmed opening date has not been published.

How Canadians access it today

For most Canadians, the route runs through the public system first:

1. A specialist in your province identifies that proton therapy may be appropriate for your case.
2. That specialist applies to your provincial or territorial health plan for out-of-country funding.
3. If approved, the plan pays for the treatment at an approved centre abroad, usually at set rates.

The number of people treated this way each year is small. Ontario’s program approved 57 patients from 2010 to September 2019, and 29 more in 2024. The limited numbers reflect that proton therapy is needed only for specific diagnoses. These routes exist and are used.

The rules, forms, and decision-makers differ in every province and territory. The guide for where you live is the place to start.

Public funding for proton therapy across Canada

What Canada pays today

Funding proton therapy abroad is costly for the public system. The reported figure depends on the province, the year, and what each estimate includes.

• Per the CADTH 2017 model, about CAD 150,000 for the treatment plus about CAD 50,000 for travel per out-of-country referral.
• Per the Alberta business-case study, an actual average of CAD 237,248 per patient in 2015/16. The same study projected about CAD 180,000 per patient for 2024 with no domestic facility.
• Per Ontario Health’s 2021 health technology assessment, an average of about CAD 326,800 per patient sent abroad. The same assessment estimated a domestic facility would cut the per-patient cost six to seven times, to about CAD 48,217.

Read each figure with its source and date in mind. Part of the cost is the facility itself. CADTH put the cost of building a proton therapy centre between USD 25 million and USD 200 million.

Sources for this page (8)▸

1. Canada has no operating proton therapy centre today, Canadians are treated abroad, and Ontario approved 57 patients from 2010 to September 2019: Tsang et al., Proton Therapy in Canada, Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys (Red Journal), 2022, S0360-3016(22)03642-2. redjournal.org ; Ontario Health, Ont Health Technol Assess Ser 2021;21(1):1-142. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (checked 2026-07-06)
2. Ontario approved 29 out-of-country proton applications in 2024: ministry data via CBC (CBC analysis of Ontario Ministry of Health data, September 2025). cbc.ca (checked 2026-07-15)
3. The Vancouver program treated eye (ocular) melanoma with protons from 1995 (TRIUMF with BC Cancer): Weber et al., Ocular Oncology and Pathology, PubMed 27171272. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (checked 2026-07-15). The about-ten-patients-a-year figure, the 2019 decommissioning, and the more-than-200-patients-over-about-25-years total come from TRIUMF’s proton-therapy program page, which returned an access error (HTTP 401) when rechecked on 2026-07-15 (TRIUMF Life Sciences, triumf.ca); verify these figures with TRIUMF.
4. Ontario CAD 5 million planning grant, announced 1 April 2022, to assess and design Canada’s first hospital-based proton therapy centre at University Health Network: University Health Network newsroom. uhn.ca (checked 2026-07-15)
5. Edmonton proton therapy centre (WestCan, the Ben Stelter Proton Therapy and Neuroscience Centre, about CAD 120 million, about 400 to 450 patients a year) announced March 2024: Edmonton Global news release. edmontonglobal.ca (checked 2026-07-06)
6. Public cost of out-of-country referrals, about CAD 150,000 per referral plus about CAD 50,000 travel, and a facility construction cost of between USD 25 million and USD 200 million: CADTH, “Proton Beam Therapy for the Treatment of Cancer in Children and Adults,” Budget Impact Analysis, 2017. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (checked 2026-07-06)
7. Alberta actual average of CAD 237,248 per patient in 2015/16 and projected CAD 180,000 for 2024: Smith WL, et al., What Conditions Make Proton Beam Therapy Financially Viable in Western Canada? Cureus 2018;10(11):e3644. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (checked 2026-07-06)
8. Ontario 2021 estimate of about CAD 326,800 per patient and a six- to seven-fold reduction (to about CAD 48,217) with a domestic facility: Ontario Health, “Proton Beam Therapy for Cancer,” Ont Health Technol Assess Ser 2021;21(1):1-142. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (checked 2026-07-06)

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Every statement on this page is drawn from the sources listed below. Last updated: 15 July 2026.

This page is for general education only. It is not medical advice and it is not a decision about your care or your funding. Only your treating physician can advise you on treatment. Only your provincial or territorial health plan can decide whether it will fund treatment outside the country. protontherapy.ca is an information resource by Maple Med Global (MMG Medical Tourism Inc.), Toronto, Canada. We are not a hospital, a clinic, or a government body, and we do not provide medical care.