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At the entrance of a London hospital, Krystyna Locke fronts a banner with loopy cursive letters that says, “Happy birthday to me. Your parking is free.”
The lymphoma cancer survivor is celebrating turning 63 by paying the parking fees for cancer patients. She knows just how quickly those bills add up after 20 years of hospital visits to London Health Sciences Centre in London, Ont.
In 2004, she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Twenty-six lymph nodes on one side of her neck were removed and her cancer was monitored for years until a more aggressive form of lymphoma developed on the other side of her neck in 2023, requiring chemotherapy and more frequent visits to the London hospital’s Verspeeten Family Cancer Centre.
“It’s not something everyone thinks about until they’re in that situation,” Locke said.
But she’s familiar with the grumbles and camaraderie among patients when the topic comes up in the waiting room.
That’s why she raised more than $3,700 to hand out 250 parking passes Tuesday.
Trish Eagleson was one of those recipients. “A lovely surprise,” she said, a smile spreading across her face, her free pass in hand. “It’s a wonderful initiative.”
Locke said the $12 maximum daily fee may not sound like a lot, but it could be the difference of putting food on the table for some families. At downtown Toronto hospitals, those daily rates can be more than twice that amount.
“When you have no other income coming in, or you’re there five days a week, or the patients are there for radiation, they could be there every day for 30 days straight, having radiation. It adds up,” said Locke, who is now cancer-free.
A Canadian Cancer Society report in December estimated cancer patients face on average almost $33,000 in out-of-pocket cancer-related costs in their lifetime, including parking fees.
While Locke knows this isn’t a long-term solution, she said drawing awareness to the burden could spark attention and urgency to the issue.
Hospital-owned parking lot payments get reinvested into the facility, and are subject to provincial regulations in place since 2016. They require institutions that charge more than $10 a day to offer patients, their family members and visitors five-day, 10-day and 30-day passes at a 50 per cent discount off the daily maximum rate.
That’s the case at the hospital-owned lot in London that Locke drove in-and-out of for years. A London Health Sciences Centre spokesperson acknowledged the financial burden that comes with it, especially for long-term patients, and said the fees collected go toward operational costs.
“Any additional parking revenues are reinvested in hospital operations and clinical equipment for patients,” a hospital spokesperson said.
When hospitals don’t own parking lots, nearby private parking isn’t subject to the rules.
In Ontario, an NDP motion to eliminate hospital parking fees for patients, families, and health-care workers, and cover revenue shortfalls for hospitals, was voted down in June.
Some hospitals outside of city centres that once allowed patients to park for free have even moved away from that model, including the Almonte General Hospital southwest of Ottawa. It now costs $5 per day, which the Mississippi River Health Alliance says is the standard at all of its institutions.
Other provinces have tackled the matter with legislation.
Nova Scotia started covering the cost of hospital parking in May by implementing a ticket validation system for patients, health-care workers and visitors. While the health minister said there were “growing pains” in the first couple weeks, she noted her office has since tweaked its approach to protect spots for patients and open more spots in downtown Halifax for staff.
In Quebec, parking is free for the first two hours at public health institutions for patients and visitors, and capped at $10 a day, since 2020.
Bad actors led British Columbia to end its two-year free hospital parking in 2022 after too many drivers abused the system for non-health-care-related reasons.
The province still covers the cost for patients receiving dialysis or cancer treatment in acute-care programs, and for parents or caregivers of children staying in the hospital overnight.
Putting money into research may be a more popular place to funnel health-care fundraising, Locke said.
“But this is something that goes directly to the patient. They’re the ones that see it.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 12, 2025.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
Hannah Alberga, The Canadian Press
