About us Annual reports

In 2024, Parachute expanded our work in youth and road safety, evolving the former National Teen Driver Safety Week into Canadian Youth Road Safety Week and launching new initiatives, including the Canadian Youth Road Safety Council, funding for Youth Ambassador road safety projects, and Snap for Change to encourage community-level advocacy for road safety. Our leadership in Vision Zero grew at municipal, provincial and national levels, with Parachute co-hosting the national Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals conference in June in Ottawa. Parachute created and published the 2nd Edition of the Canadian Guideline on Concussion in Sport in March and later updated the many concussion resources Parachute provides to align with the updated guideline. We continued to support Canada’s poison centres, and the Canadian Surveillance System for Poison Information, with wide-ranging poison awareness education campaigns and we completed a study on parents’ knowledge of over-the-counter medications for children. We launched the second season of our podcast for parents, Popping the Bubble Wrap, one of eight Parachute injury prevention campaigns or resources that won a gold, silver or bronze award in 2024 from the International Safety Media Awards.

In 2023, Parachute released its fourth strategic plan: Canada’s Convenor for Injury Prevention: Parachute’s Strategic Plan 2024 to 2028. We continued to focus on the leading unintentional causes of serious injury and injury-related deaths in Canada, which are falls, poisonings and motor vehicle incidents. This year saw significant growth in participation in two communities of practice for those working in fall prevention as well as a major website reorganization to better share information for professionals and the public. In March 2023, Canada launched 1-844-POISON-X, a toll-free line to reach four of Canada’s national poison centres and Parachute played a crucial role in supporting this development, also creating a series of storytelling videos, “Help is a Call Away,” to promote the poison centres and the services they provide. Parachute built new road safety campaigns based on a 2023 national survey, created new youth engagement research and programs, and launched Canada’s first Vision Zero walkshop, partnering with the City of Guelph.

In 2022, Parachute celebrated its 10^th anniversary with a series of events, including the Canadian Injury Prevention Conference held in Vancouver, B.C. from Nov. 4 to 6. The International Safety Media Awards recognized our work in injury prevention safety campaigns with nine awards, including one gold, three silver and two bronze. To support our work in Vision Zero road safety, we launched the Change for Good Roads initiative and founded the Canadian Youth Road Safety Council. Parachute supported the publication of the Pan-Canadian Poison Centres Annual Report, continued our work in fall prevention and concussion recognition and management, and launched our first-ever podcast: Popping the Bubble Wrap.

In 2021, Parachute created and released the Cost of Injury in Canada 2021 report, which shows the economic burden of injury to be $29.4 billion annually. We launched a new focus on ATV safety, and developed new research and campaigns to support our Vision Zero road safety work. As well, the Fall Prevention Communities of Practice Loop and Loop Junior, along with Canada’s annual Fall Prevention Month in November, moved under the Parachute umbrella.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic shifted Parachute’s ability to deliver injury prevention activities across Canada and impacted preventable injuries in significant ways, some positive and others negative. Through it all Parachute kept our eye on the ball – ensuring Canadians live a long life to the fullest by preventing injuries. We launched a new three-year Strategic Plan, grew our leadership in Vision Zero and road safety in Canada, published the landmark Evidence Summary on the Prevention of Poisoning in Canada, expanded our work in Seniors’ Fall Prevention and continued driving awareness of concussion recognition and management, including our national #CheckForConcussion campaign featuring Canadian Olympians.

Our 2019 annual report highlights Parachute’s leadership in concussion recognition and management as well as road safety under the Vision Zero framework, the launch of Elementary Road Safety, Smart Hockey and our new website parachute.ca, expanded work in poison prevention and preventing seniors’ falls, and the appointment of our third President and CEO, Pamela Fuselli.

Our 2018 annual report celebrates Parachute’s achievement in many fields of injury prevention, including our leadership in Vision Zero road safety, concussion recognition and treatment, falls in seniors and our achievements in our many programs, campaigns and advocacy work to create a Canada free of serious injuries, with Canadians living long lives to the fullest.

In 2017, led by CEO and President Steve Podborski, Parachute published the Canadian Guideline on Concussion in Sport, held its second fundraising gala and second Vision Zero road safety summit, launched the first-ever National Injury Prevention Day on July 5, and launched its second strategic plan, Our Leap Forward, to shape the organization’s direction from 2018 to 2020.

In 2016, Parachute continued its mission to create a Canada free of serious injury. We are grateful to our partners, stakeholders and generous funders who played an important role in our successful activities and program, including the launch of Concussion Ed app, the 20th anniversary of Parachute Safe Kid’s Week and a record-breaking response to National Teen Driver Safety Week. We invite you to read our 2016 Annual Report to learn about these initiatives and many more that are helping to stop the clock on preventable injuries.

In 2015, Parachute called on all Canada to “Stop the Clock” on injury, a broad-reaching public awareness national campaign. Parachute hosted its first-ever fundraising gala, drawing support from Wayne Gretzky, Martin Short, and Jason Priestly. In addition to delivering our many programs and adding to our networks of communities and injury-prevention partners, Parachute published two major works: the landmark Cost of Injury Report and a new edition of the Canadian Injury Prevention Resource.