Message from the President and CEO

Meeting the challenge

Each year our annual report allows us to close out one year as we set the course for what’s to come.
 
Taking the opportunity to celebrate accomplishments is important, as is reflecting on what we’ve achieved, which gives us insight as we plan for the future.
 
Of course, the global pandemic has dramatically shifted life for us all. Alongside all other Canadians, we are learning to adapt our personal and professional routines and adjust to living through this health emergency with no clear end in sight. Together we will navigate these uncertain times.
 
I am pleased to share a few of our successes from our work from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020.

In Canada

We helped more than 67,000 people who faced disasters here in Canada, including assisting nearly 7,000 people impacted by COVID in early 2020. We mobilized early on to help travellers returning to Canada who had to self-isolate and couldn’t leave their homes or hotel rooms for 14 days. We also brought our international expertise to bear in our domestic response – being first on the ground in Trenton and Halifax.

Once again, more than one million Canadians took a Red Cross swimming lesson and over 650,000 people learned first aid. Across the country our community programs delivered food, transportation, and medical equipment to thousands of vulnerable people.

We continued our work in supporting Canada’s fastest-growing demographic – older adults. Ensuring they have the support needed to stay safe and health in their homes and communities is an increasing area of focus for us.

Around the world

Internationally, Canadian Red Cross helped more than two million people. That includes not only the many projects we manage directly – such as installing or repairing wells or mobilizing our field hospital in Mozambique – but also the many partnerships we have with other National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. When we send personnel, expertise and financial resources to sister Societies, the reach of our work as an international organization is exponential. 

None of the help we extended in Canada and abroad would have been possible without the dedication of our personnel. More than 14,000 people answered the call to carry out our humanitarian mission last year, the majority of them as volunteers. I am inspired by their service and the impact it has had.

No less inspiring is the support we receive from our partners and 1.2 million donors across the country. Without their belief in the importance of Red Cross, we simply couldn’t reach the many people who look to us in times of need.

As we navigate what’s to come, I am confident that together we will continue to meet new challenges with ingenuity, professionalism and compassion.