Diagnosed at 46, Quebec woman with stage 4 breast cancer calls for earlier screening
Posted October 17, 2026 12:02 pm.
Eugénie Lacroix, a Quebec woman diagnosed with breast cancer at 46 years old, is urging the province to expand access to earlier screening as advocates call for changes to a program that currently targets women aged 50 to 74.
Now living with stage 4 breast cancer, Lacroix hopes sharing her experience will push Quebec’s next government to act on recommendations to extend organized screening to younger women.
“If I’d had access to early screening, it’s reasonable to assume that the cancer would have been detected sooner and that we could have quickly — much more quickly — started chemotherapy and everything that follows,” Lacroix said. “It’s a long road. This is indeed a tough cancer, but one that can still be cured.”
Lacroix was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer in Dec. 2024. After chemotherapy, she was preparing for surgery when doctors told her the cancer had spread to her bones, making it stage 4. She is now receiving palliative chemotherapy to contain the disease and slow the spread of metastases.
Quebec has yet to set a timeline for expanding screening
Quebec’s organized breast cancer screening program currently invites eligible women aged 50 to 74 at average risk to undergo mammograms every two years.
In Sept. 2025, the Institut national d’excellence en santé et en services sociaux (INESSS), Quebec’s health and social service institute, recommended gradually expanding the program to women aged 45 to 49.
The Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) also published a report examining improvements to the existing program and the possibility of expanding access.
The Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) welcomed both reports on Sept. 29, 2025. However, no confirmed implementation date for expanding organized screening to women aged 45 to 49 has been announced.
In a statement to CityNews, the ministry said work is underway to address the prerequisites for a possible expansion.
Before extending the program, the ministry says it needs to address recommendations from INESSS to improve the existing screening system, including reducing recall rates, shortening delays for follow-up examinations and addressing staffing needs.
According to the ministry, INESSS reported in 2025 that the program’s recall rate was 22.4 per cent, compared with 8.5 per cent for follow-up mammograms. A high recall rate can lead to more false positive results which can lead to medical tests that are unnecessary, anxiety for patients and increased costs.
The ministry also said some regions exceed current target wait times of six weeks for mammograms and three weeks for follow-up examinations.
It argues that expanding the program before addressing these issues could negatively affect women who are already eligible for screening.
Advocates say women are being left behind
Kimberly Carson, CEO of Breast Cancer Canada, says Quebec’s delay creates inequities compared with other provinces.
“They’re putting women’s lives at risk and it’s causing inequities across the country,” Carson said.
“Most other provinces have actually now gone as far as lowering the screening age to 40 and not 45. So it just puts Quebec women that little bit further behind.”
Carson says earlier detection can improve outcomes and reduce the need for more intensive treatment.
“We know that the sooner we catch it, the better the outcomes,” she said.
She argues that mammograms remain an important tool for detecting breast cancer and that improving the existing system should not prevent the province from working toward broader access.
“There has to be a better way to ensure that people are caught sooner,” Carson said. “And by not opening up that window, we’re really going to be causing a lot of distress for women in Quebec.”
Ministry exploring screening based on individual risk
The MSSS said it is also exploring ways to facilitate screening for women with certain risk factors, regardless of age.
Although women aged 40 to 49 are not routinely invited through Quebec’s organized screening program, physicians and specialized nurse practitioners can prescribe screening mammograms for younger women based on individual risk factors, such as family history, or when symptoms are present.
The ministry estimates that about 20 per cent of women aged 40 to 49 accessed screening mammograms through these ways. In 2023, 105,801 screening mammograms were performed among women in that age group in Quebec.
The ministry also encourages people to watch for signs and symptoms of breast cancer and report any changes to a doctor or healthcare professional.
Advocates call for personalized risk assessments
Expanding the screening program by age is not the only change advocates want to see.
The Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation is also calling for action. In a statement to CityNews, Karine-Iseult Ippersiel, president and CEO of the foundation said:
“It is disappointing that Quebec continues to lag behind when it comes to screening. Women deserve better than a one-size-fits-all system that relies so heavily on age rather than their individual risk. We have the scientific knowledge and the opportunity to identify women at higher risk earlier, yet progress remains too slow. Quebec must move beyond discussion and take concrete action to implement personalized risk assessment and advance initiatives such as the PERSPECTIVE project. Women’s lives are at stake, and administrative delays are no excuse for inaction. It is time for Quebec to show leadership and ensure that women receive the right screening, at the right time, based on their individual risk,” she said
Lacroix hopes her story prompts action
For Lacroix, expanding access to screening is about raising awareness and helping other women detect cancer earlier.
“I hope that by sharing my story, I’ll be able to raise awareness among people—especially younger women—so they’ll start by doing what we know needs to be done,” she said.
She also wants the next government to understand that her experience is not isolated.
“I hope that stories like mine — and those who listen to mine — will help them understand that there are many other women going through this situation and that there will be more.”
