About Community Veterinary Outreach

our VisIon

Create healthier people, pets, and communities.

our mission

Community Veterinary Outreach (CVO) is a registered charity that aims to improve the health of homeless individuals and their pets through a “one health” model of care. By offering human health services and health education alongside preventative veterinary care, CVO seeks to improve access to veterinary and human health resources for an at-risk population, and leverage the human-animal bond to increase human health resource uptake.

Although we provide pro-bono veterinary care, we are not solely an animal welfare organization. Our mandate is to improve the health and welfare of the client by providing health services and community connections that matter to them.

our mandate

Community Veterinary Outreach’s mandate is to:

  • Improve the health and welfare of both animals and people.

  • Create multilateral collaborative partnerships with community organizations.

  • Contribute to the scientific knowledge base on social issues involving animals.

  • And develop program models that are reproducible in other communities.

Regions we serve

Our regions

  • Halifax, NS

  • Ottawa, ON

  • Barrie, ON

  • Toronto, ON

  • York, ON

  • Kingston, ON

  • Saskatoon, SK

  • Vancouver, BC

  • Kelowna, BC

  • Whitehorse, YT

Who we serve

We serve people in communities with different needs, challenges and opportunities. All clients are unhoused, under-housed, or vulnerably housed.

In order to access One Health clinics, clients must meet the following eligibility criteria:

  1. homeless or vulnerably-housed (based on the definition by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness)

  2. referred through a case worker or health worker

  3. receiving social assistance or disability support (or if have no ID are making regular use of shelter services) AND

  4. do not have a current veterinarian-patient-client relationship (i.e. had their pet seen by a veterinarian in the past 12 months – exceptions are humane societies and spay neuter clinics)

We work directly with case-worker referrals (with the exception of CVO Vancouver, which accepts drop-ins, and CVO Yukon, which accepts drop-ins from clients of partnering organizations).

Visit our Get Help page to learn more

Annual Reports & Financial Statements

Since 2021, we have engaged independent auditors for our financial statements.  Our annual report shares our impact, goals and actions throughout the year. Recent annual reports and financial statements are shared below.

strategic plan 2024-2028

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Board of directors

Regional Leadership

OTTAWA, ON
Dr. Susan Kilborn
Dr. Anne Downes

YORK REGION, ON
Dr. Angela Smith
Mary-Ann Proulx

TORONTO, ON
Dr. Mark Kinghorn

BARRIE, ON
Dr. Patty Lechten
Dr. Karren Prost

SASKATOON, SK
Dr. Dayle Borchardt

VANCOUVER, BC
Dr. Kyla Townsend

KELOWNA, BC
Crystal LaBrie

WHITEHORSE, YT
Dr. Samantha Salter

KINGSTON, ON
Dr. Andrew Winterborn
Leeanne Couvrette
Myra Emery

HALIFAX, NS
Dr. Kellie Haggett

Staff

  • Dr. Melanie Barham

    Dr. Melanie Barham

    CEO

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  • Dr. Susan Kilborn

    Dr. Susan Kilborn

    COO

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  • Catherine Groves

    DR. Catherine Groves

    NATIONAL PROGRAM MANAGER: COMMUNICATIONS AND COMMUNITY LEADERS

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  • Margot Mercer

    Margot Mercer

    SPAY AND NEUTER PROGRAM COORDINATOR

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  • Sara Khazal

    Sara Khazal

    LOGISTICS COORDINATOR

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  • Sabiha Khazal

    Sabiha Khazal

    LOGISTICS COORDINATOR

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  • Sera Graham

    OTTAWA VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR

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  • SHANNON HILL

    Shannon Hill

    NATIONAL DATA COORDINATOR

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By-laws

View By-laws