June 10, 2021 — Long-term care (LTC) homes — also called nursing homes, continuing care facilities and residential care homes — provide a wide range of health and personal care services for Canadians with medical or physical needs who require access to 24-hour nursing care, personal care and other therapeutic and support services.
The visualization below includes information on LTC homes where health care is either entirely or partially funded by the provincial or territorial government. It does not include information on congregate living facilities that don’t provide 24 hour nursing care or receive public funding (e.g., assisted living, supportive housing, retirement homes).
Definitions
- LTC homes with similar characteristics can be called different names across the country (e.g., nursing homes, continuing care facilities, residential care homes).
- Ownership of publicly funded LTC homes offering 24-hour nursing care can be public or private.
- Privately owned LTC homes can be subdivided into for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.
The proportion of private and publicly owned LTC homes in Canada varies by jurisdiction. Overall, 54% of LTC homes in Canada are privately owned and 46% are publicly owned. Due to the varying size of LTC homes, the proportion of beds by ownership type may differ from the number of homes by ownership type.
Long-term care homes in Canada: How many and who owns them?
Sources
- Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Health and Community Services
- Prince Edward Island Department of Health and Wellness
- Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness
- New Brunswick Department of Health
- Quebec ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux
- Ontario Ministry of Long-Term Care
- Manitoba Health, Seniors and Active Living
- Saskatchewan Ministry of Health
- Alberta Ministry of Health
- British Columbia Ministry of Health
- Yukon Department of Health and Social Services
- Northwest Territories Department of Health and Social Services
- Nunavut Department of Health
Text version of infographic
- Newfoundland and Labrador has a total of 40 long-term care homes; 98% are publicly owned, and 2% are owned by private for-profit organizations.
- Prince Edward Island has a total of 19 long-term care homes; 47% are publicly owned, 47% are owned by private for-profit organizations and 6% are owned by private not-for-profit organizations.
- Nova Scotia has a total of 84 long-term care homes; 14% are publicly owned, 44% are owned by private for-profit organizations and 42% are owned by private not-for-profit organizations.
- New Brunswick has a total of 70 long-term care homes; 14% are owned by private for-profit organizations and 86% are owned by private not-for-profit organizations.
- Quebec has a total of 440 long-term care homes; 88% are publicly owned and 12% are privately owned. Breakdown information for private for-profit and not-for-profit long-term care homes in Quebec was not available at the time of publication.
- Ontario has a total of 627 long-term care homes; 16% are publicly owned, 57% are owned by private for-profit organizations and 27% are owned by private not-for-profit organizations. Breakdown information for private for-profit and not-for-profit long-term care homes was not available for 1 home in Ontario at the time of publication.
- Manitoba has a total of 125 long-term care homes; 57% are publicly owned, 14% are owned by private for-profit organizations and 29% are owned by private not-for-profit organizations.
- Saskatchewan has a total of 161 long-term care homes; 74% are publicly owned, 5% are owned by private for-profit organizations and 21% are owned by private not-for-profit organizations.
- Alberta has a total of 186 long-term care homes; 46% are publicly owned, 27% are owned by private for-profit organizations and 27% are owned by private not-for-profit organizations. Breakdown information for private for-profit and not-for-profit long-term care homes was not available for 1 home in Alberta at the time of publication.
- British Columbia has a total of 308 long-term care homes; 35% are publicly owned, 37% are owned by private for-profit organizations and 28% are owned by private not-for-profit organizations.
- Yukon has a total of 4 long-term care homes; 100% are publicly owned.
- Northwest Territories has a total of 9 long-term care homes; 100% are publicly owned.
- Nunavut has a total of 3 long-term care homes; 100% are publicly owned.
- Canada has a total of 2,076 long-term care homes; 46% are publicly owned and 54% are privately owned; the breakdown for privately owned homes is 29% for-profit and 23% not-for-profit. Private for-profit and not-for-profit ownership breakdown information for some long-term care homes in Quebec, Ontario and Alberta was not available at the time of publication.
Related resources
- How many long-term care beds are there in Canada?
- Long-term care and COVID-19: International comparisons
- Long-term care
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