Supporting Canada’s Family Caregivers: How the Petro-Canada CareMakers Foundation Is Driving National Impact 

Across Canada, millions of people quietly balance caregiving responsibilities alongside work, family and everyday life. Whether caring for aging parents, children with disabilities, spouses or loved ones facing illness, many do not realize they are family caregivers. They simply see it as helping someone they love. 

These eight million Canadians – who devote their lives to caring for loved ones – inspire the
Petro-Canada CareMakers Foundation, recipient of the Canadian Fuels Association’s 2026 Community Champion Award, to support the needs of family caregivers across the country. 

“Until you say, ‘hey, I am a family caregiver,’ you won’t realize that there’s supports out there that you can access when times get really hard,” said Leila Fenc, Executive Director of the foundation. 

Launched in 2020, CareMakers is a registered public charity created to better recognize and support family caregivers. Supported in part by Suncor, owner of Petro-Canada, CareMakers provides funding to charitable organizations that help family caregivers. Its work is also made possible by individual and corporate donors as well as the associates and staff at Petro-Canada’s more than 1,700 retail and 300 wholesale locations coast-to-coast. Together, they’ve helped the foundation raise awareness of an issue affecting one in four Canadians by supporting fundraising initiatives, awareness campaigns and community engagement. 

Leila says caregiving is a universal reality: “It doesn’t discriminate by geography, gender, ethnicity, or age. It’s something that is going to affect almost everybody at some point in their lives.” 

One of the foundation’s most visible initiatives is its annual Strides for Caregivers campaign, now in its fifth year. Each fall, a week-long series of five-kilometre walks across Canada brings together Suncor employees, Petro-Canada staff, customers and supporters in communities from Victoria, British Columbia to St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, to rally behind a common cause. In 2025, more than 1,600 participants joined over 20 walks across the country, raising more than $216,000. In total, the event has raised close to half a million dollars to support family caregivers. 

According to Leila, the annual event’s growing momentum comes from how personal the issue is for so many Canadians. 

“Once someone hears a story that sounds like their own experience, that’s when awareness turns into action,” she said. 

Much of that awareness begins locally, often at Petro-Canada retail sites where associates and staff help raise awareness of the foundation’s work in their own communities.

Leila recalled one moment during a Strides event hosted at a Petro-Canada station. A customer asked what the walk was about. After hearing the explanation, they shared their own caregiving experience and made an unsolicited donation. 

“That kind of authentic connection is incredibly powerful,” she said. 

Beyond Strides, the foundation continues to raise awareness through national media campaigns such as 24 Hours of Care, Unexpected Firsts, and The Serious Side of Care, which highlight the emotional, mental, and financial realities caregivers face every day. 

The foundation also provides direct support through grant funding. Since launching, it has distributed close to $16 million to more than 240 charities across Canada, organizations that provide family caregivers with critical programs and resources, including respite care, support groups, meal programs, and resources for newcomers. 

Importantly, the foundation’s approach reflects Petro-Canada’s unique position as a national fuel brand rooted in serving local communities. This reach helps bring the foundation’s message into spaces Canadians visit every day, ensuring support reaches caregivers in communities of all sizes, from major cities to smaller towns across the country. 

As awareness of caregiving continues to grow, the foundation hopes its work will inspire all Canadians to help family caregivers feel seen, supported, and understood and remind them they are not alone.