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Rural and Remote Mental Health

Nearly 6 million people (16% of the total population) live in rural and remote areas of Canada. Rural areas have a population of less than 1,000 or fewer than 400 inhabitants per square kilometre.1 A high proportion of Indigenous populations live in rural and remote areas.2 

CMHA operates in dozens of rural and remote communities across Canada, and we know that access to care can be particularly difficult in these areas.  

That is why CMHA has identified rural and remote mental health as a priority area of focus. 

Find out about CMHA’s research, policy, program and service delivery work in these areas:

Programs and services

Coming soon


We would like to acknowledge and express our gratitude to West Fraser for funding this project. Their commitment to supporting the well-being of people living and working in rural and remote areas made this work possible.


1 https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-607-x/71-607-x2024012-eng.htm (accessed January 30, 2025) https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/ref/dict/az/Definition-eng.cfm?ID=geo042 (accessed January 30, 2025) 

2 (Friesen, 2019, p.47).