If not you, who? If not now, when?
April 16, 2026, marks Advance Care Planning (ACP) Day in Canada, a national day dedicated to encouraging people to think, talk, and share their wishes for future health and personal care. This annual event reminds Canadians that planning ahead is not only practical, it’s a gift to our future selves and the people we love.
Despite widespread agreement that advance care planning is important, national data shows that while 80% of Canadians believe planning for future health care matters, only 17% have documented their wishes (CHPCA, 2024). ACP Day exists as a reminder, prompting meaningful conversations and providing accessible tools to help people get started.
What Is advance care planning?
Advance care planning is the process of thinking about and sharing your personal values, beliefs, and preferences, for future health care decisions. It involves having open conversations with your family, close friends, and health care providers so they understand what kinds of treatments you would want, or not want, if you were ever unable to speak for yourself.
When you record your wishes, you're creating an advance care plan. This plan is a written or recorded summary that helps guide your substitute decision maker if a health care provider asks them to make decisions on your behalf.
The Canadian Hospice Association outlines five key steps to the ACP process: think, learn, decide, talk, and record. These steps are intended to be dynamic and should be revisited any time an individual’s health, values, wishes, or beliefs change. The five steps are outlined below:
- Think - about what is most important to you – your values, wishes and beliefs.
- Learn - about your overall health. This may include current conditions you want to better understand.
- Decide - on your Substitute Decision Maker(s), one or more people who are willing and able to speak for you if you cannot speak for yourself.
- Talk - about your values, beliefs and wishes with your Substitute Decision Maker(s), family, friends, and health care providers.
- Record - your values, wishes and beliefs in your Advance Care Planning Guide, in a letter, poem, video or audio recording.
ACP is not just about forms. At its heart, it is about understanding what matters most to you, such as quality of life, comfort, independence, spiritual, or cultural values, and ensuring those priorities guide care decisions if your health changes.
Who Is advance care planning for?
If you are over 19 years of age and capable of making your own decisions, ACP is for you! You do not need to be sick, elderly, or nearing the end of life to benefit from ACP. Early planning - while you are capable of making decisions - allows you to think clearly, ask questions, and communicate your wishes without pressure.
ACP is especially helpful for people who:
- Live with chronic or serious illness
- Support a family member with health challenges
- Want to reduce uncertainty for loved ones
- Value having control over future health decisions
Whether you're young, healthy, managing a chronic condition, or supporting someone who is, the best time to plan is now. Because when life changes suddenly, it’s not the paperwork that brings peace, it’s knowing your loved ones are prepared to speak on your behalf with confidence and clarity.
Where do I start?
There are multiple resources available for those who are wanting to start their ACP. The BC government's advance care planning guide is titled My voice: Expressing my wishes for future health care treatment. You can use it to learn more about advance care planning and make your own plan that will serve as your voice in the future.
The First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) have also created an advance care planning guide: Your care, Your choices. The guide was adapted with input from various BC First Nations people and health care providers. It includes personal stories, information about substitute decision makers, and medical care options. There are workbook-style pages for you to record your decisions along with copies of provincial legal forms to help you get started.
For additional information, please visit Advance care planning
Taking part in ACP Day 2026
Participating in ACP Day does not require completing everything at once. Even a single conversation is a meaningful step. On April 16 - or any day - we recommend starting small:
- Choose one person you trust and talk about what matters to you
- Identify who you would want as your substitute decision-maker
- Explore free resources at advancecareplanning.ca
- Begin writing down your wishes, knowing they can evolve over time
ACP Day reminds us that the best time to begin is now, while you can clearly speak for yourself.
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