- Prostate Cancer Awareness Month: September 2025
- National Coaches Week: September 15-21, 2025
- Rail Safety Week: September 15-21, 2025
- World Mitochondrial Disease Week: September 15-21, 2025
- National British Home Child Day: September 28, 2025
Prostate Cancer Awareness Month: September 2025
September is Prostate Cancer Awareness month, a month dedicated to raising awareness, funding research and supporting those living with prostate cancer. It is the most common type of cancer to affect Canadian men. Raising awareness for Prostate Cancer is one of the best ways to help people learn about the signs, symptoms and preventive screening. It also helps build communities and foster connections. For more information, visit prostatecanada.ca
National Coaches Week: September 15-21, 2025
National Coaches Week encourages Canadians and Pickering residents to say #ThanksCoach to the 1-in-7 coaches who call Pickering and Ontario home. It is a time to celebrate the tremendous positive impact coaches have on athletes and communities. This week will focus on putting a spotlight on coaches and give this, (largely volunteer) integral part of Canadian sport; a big thanks.
With events held across the province and country to celebrate coaching, National Coaches Week provides coaches with the recognition they deserve for the time they devote to ensuring Canadians live an active, healthy lifestyle.
Throughout the week, communities all across Ontario will be showing their support for coaches through various initiatives to celebrate and recognize coaches.
For more information, please visit coachesontario.ca/coachesweek
Rail Safety Week: September 15-21, 2025
Rail Safety Week is held across Canada from September 15 to 21, 2025. Last year, 261 railway crossing and trespassing incidents occurred in Canada; resulting in 68 avoidable fatalities and 58 avoidable serious injuries. Educating and informing the public about rail safety will reduce the number of avoidable fatalities and injuries caused by incidents involving trains and citizens. It is crucial to remind the public that railway rights-of-way are private property, enhance public awareness of the dangers associated with highway rail grade crossings, ensure pedestrians and motorists are looking and listening while near railways, and obeying established traffic laws; are some of the key tactics communities should promote. Operation Lifesaver is a public/private partnership whose aim is to work with the public, rail industry, governments, indigenous communities, police services, media and others to raise rail safety awareness, save lives and prevent injuries in our communities.
For more information, please visit cn.ca/railsafety and operationlifesaver.ca
World Mitochondrial Disease Week: September 15-21, 2025
Without energy, we cannot survive. It is as simple and complex as that. Every moment of every day, trillions of mitochondria generate the energy we need to survive. For those who are missing, or do not have enough healthy mitochondria, the impact can be devastating with symptoms that vary from mild to life-threatening.
MitoCanada is Canada’s only registered health foundation dedicated to transforming the lives of individuals, families, and caregivers affected by mitochondrial disease. Their mission is to energize and support patients, families, and healthcare providers across the country through education, support, awareness, and transformational research, aiming to be a trusted and reliable source of information and care.
For more information, please visit: mitopatients.org/mito-week and mitocanada.org
National British Home Child Day: September 28, 2025
September 28 is National British Home Child Day in Canada, as proclaimed by the Government of Canada in 2017. From 1869 to 1948, over 100,000 children were sent to Canada as indentured labourers and domestics. These children ranged from a few months to 18 years of age. The vast majority of these children came from loving families who had fallen on hard times, which resulted in poverty, and their parents being unable to care for their children. These children went on to serve in large numbers in WW1 and WW2 as well as make many contributions to Canada.
Home Children Canada is a charity and its affiliated group British Home Children Advocacy and Research Association (BHCARA) share a common goal is to promote awareness of the Child Migration Scheme which began in the late 19th Century continuing until the 1970’s. For the large part, Canadians are completely unaware of this Migration Scheme that spanned 4 continents and lasted over 150 years. BHCARA focuses on assisting Home Children and their descendants in finding information on lost families, free of charge and safely secure and catalogue historical artifacts (trunks/medals/books).
Home Children Canada and British Home Child Advocacy & Research Advocacy (BHCARA) started two initiatives to commemorate British Home Child Day. Firstly, "Beacons of Light for British Home Children Tribute," where communities illuminate memorials, monuments, or buildings, in red, white and blue or yellow which represents Home Children Canada’s floral emblem, the sunflower, on September 28th. The second initiative is, "Porch Light - "We'll leave the light on for you - In memory of British Home Children," where individuals leave their porch light on, on September 28th or leave a sunflower on a BHC’s grave.
Pickering was home to many BHC’s whether they were initially placed there as home children on area farms or buried in local cemeteries such as in the Duffin Meadows Cemetery and the Claremont Cemetery. It is said 1 in 10 Canadians descend from a British Home Child. Premier Doug Ford and Don Cherry's grandfathers were also BHC!
For more information, visit: britishhomechildren.com and homechildrencanada.com