Ottawa·NewPlanned Parenthood Ottawa says it’s temporarily halting its front-line programming as the agency tries to free itself from a major budgetary shortfall.Front-line staff laid off earlier this yearCBC News · Posted: Nov 27, 2025 3:12 PM EST | Last Updated: 17 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Planned Parenthood Ottawa executive director Lyra Evans says the agency is temporarily pausing services amid significant financial difficulties, with an eye toward reopening in the new year. (Jacob Taillefer Racine/CBC)Planned Parenthood Ottawa says it’s temporarily halting its front-line programming as the agency tries to address a major financial shortfall.”The board has looked at our financial situation, looked at our labour situation, and said, ‘We need some time to sit down and pause what’s going on,'” said executive director Lyra Evans on Thursday.”We need this time — between now and the end of the year — to figure out what our programs are going to look like, to figure out what our finances are going to be … and to make sure that we’re not committing to things we’re not going to be able to sustain long-term.”According to its 2024 annual report, Planned Parenthood Ottawa overshot its budget by nearly $100,000 in the last fiscal year. The charity — whose services include pregnancy and sexual health programming and gender-affirming care — gets most of its funding through government and community grants. Evans previously said many of those were not renewed for 2025. That reality, coupled with a rising demand for some of their programming, put the organization in a precarious financial state, she said.Earlier this year, the agency laid off all six of its unionized front-line staff.While Evans continued to perform some of Planned Parenthood Ottawa’s work herself, she said Thursday the agency is now closed for the near future.”If all of my time was being spent trying to keep the boat afloat, none of it was being spent fixing the boat. None of it was being spent making sure that the services we offer meet the needs of the community,” Evans said.”With this brief pause, we now have the time to sit down and figure [out], what should we be offering? How can we best serve the community?”Brochures offering sexual health resources are seen inside the Planned Parenthood Ottawa office on Thursday. The agency laid off its six front-line employees earlier in the year. (Joseph Tunney/CBC)’People are aghast’Evans said she’d asked Ottawa Public Health for funding but was told the agency couldn’t offer financial assistance because of its own deficit.Evand said Planned Parenthood Ottawa has a fundraising plan in place that involves reaching out to “historical donors” and other supporters, and said she’s optimistic end-of-year fundraising efforts will bear fruit.”There are a lot of people who see a lot of value in Planned Parenthood, and people are aghast when they realize that we’re having to pause services, we’re running out of money,” she said.The goal is to reopen in some capacity in 2026, Evans added.Even if that happens, the financial situation likely means only a few of the six laid-off workers will have jobs to return to, said Chantel Mullings, a labour relations specialist with the Canadian Office and Professional Employees (COPE) union.”Our members have a passion for what they do. These are not just people that are there for a paycheck,” Mullings said. “We are doing everything that we can to work with the employer to get our members back, because they do love the work that they do.”COPE also raised concerns with Evans that she was doing the work of those unionized employees, Mullings said. Mullings said she believed that “absolutely” contributed to the agency’s decision to temporarily halt operations.With files from Joseph Tunney and Anchal Sharma
Planned Parenthood Ottawa pauses operations amid financial quagmire
