OurCare

A National Survey to Help Canada Fix Its Primary Care Gap

Six million Canadians don't have a family doctor. Millions more have one but can't get seen. Yet the policy conversations meant to fix primary care have been shaped by fragmented data and missing voices—particularly from the communities most affected. Dr. Tara Kiran of the University of Toronto’s Department of Family and Community Medicine and Unity Health set out to change that with the OurCare initiative.

In collaboration with Dr. Kiran, the Canadian Medical Association, as well as health researchers and policymakers across the country, Vox Pop Labs designed and implemented one of the most in-depth studies ever conducted on Canadians’ experiences with primary care.

Vox Pop Labs surveyed more than 25,000 Canadians across every province and territory for two waves of the OurCare study—the first in 2022 and the second in 2025. The sample for each wave was drawn primarily from the Vox Pop Labs proprietary respondent panel of more than 750,000 Canadians and complemented by external recruitment, open participation, and in-person interviews in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut to ensure representation from communities that are too often marginalized in public opinion research.

Outcomes and Impact

The OurCare study has become the authoritative source on Canadians’ experience with primary care. The study’s findings informed the OurCare Standard, now used as a national benchmark for primary care performance. The framework formed the basis of Ontario's Primary Care Act—the first legislation of its kind in Canada. And policymakers, health system leaders, and journalists now routinely turn to OurCare data when the conversation turns to what Canadians need from primary care and whether they're getting it.