Many Ontarians face significant delays between the onset of cancer symptoms to diagnosis and treatment, with structurally marginalised communities facing the greatest barriers to care and poorer health outcomes. To address these inequities, Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario) sought to redesign diagnostic pathways with a focus on equity. While their Patient and Family Advisors (PFA) community provides meaningful insights in patient health experiences, it remains under-representative of high priority populations, including Indigenous, Francophone, newcomer, 2SLGBTQI+, rural/remote, racialised, low-income, and people living with disabilities. There was an identified need to capture diverse lived experiences to inform equitable, inclusive, and responsive cancer diagnostic services for all Ontarians. The Engaging Diverse Voices to Improve Cancer Diagnosis Project (Project EDV) focused on engaging three high priority communities: Black, Newcomer and Francophone and French-speakers.

The purpose of the project was to:

1. Understand the lived experiences and needs of individuals from three high-priority populations related to the cancer diagnostic phase, and

2. Develop an equity-oriented model for engaging structurally marginalised communities within Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario)’s PFA community.