The national breast cancer screening guideline developed by the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care (Task Force) has been sharply criticized, in particular for its continued recommendation against routine breast cancer screening for women aged 40 to 49. Critics argue that this recommendation is founded on outdated evidence, underestimates the benefits while overstating the harms of such screening and may discourage the use of a potentially life‑sparing secondary prevention measure. Evidence indicates a rising incidence of breast cancer among women under the age of 50. Additionally, a Canadian study has found that, compared to white women, women of other race and ethnicity groups are more likely to develop breast cancer at a younger age and to have higher proportions of cases diagnosed under the age of 50. To help ensure that Canada’s breast cancer screening guideline is based on best evidence and practice and that women have optimal access to preventive care, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health (Committee) undertook a study on breast cancer screening guidelines in Canada. Following that study, the Committee unanimously adopted a motion urging the Task Force to revisit its draft recommendations on breast cancer screening.

This report summarizes the evidence gathered for the study, centring around significant concerns over the Task Force’s draft recommendations and barriers to breast cancer screening across Canada. To address these concerns, the Committee puts forward 13 recommendations to the Government of Canada, notably:

• accelerating an external expert review of the Task Force’s breast cancer screening guidelines;
• initiating the development of guidelines for women who are at higher‑than‑average risk for developing breast cancer;
• ensuring appropriate levels of funding for optimized breast cancer screening programs;
• enhancing data collection on breast cancer and, in particular, disaggregated data by race, ethnicity and breast density;
• implementing public health awareness campaigns on breast cancer screening, including those targeted at younger women and Indigenous and racialized communities; and
• investing in research on breast cancer.

More broadly, the Committee recommends that the Task Force be rebuilt, with appropriate governance, accountability, transparency and ethics oversight.