News
St. Joseph's Care Group Awarded Accreditation with Commendation from Accreditation Canada
Date: 2026-09-08
Thunder Bay, ON - St. Joseph's Care Group (SJCG) has been awarded Accreditation with Commendation.
The designation recognizes strong performance across a wide range of quality and safety standards and spans nine sites and four areas of care: Mental Health & Addictions, Rehabilitative Care, Hospice & Palliative Care, and Long-Term Care. Together, this reflects the breadth of services provided across the organization and SJCG's ongoing commitment to meeting national standards for high-quality care and services.
Accreditation Canada surveyors visited SJCG during the last week of April, meeting with staff, physicians and professional staff, volunteers, Client & Family Partners, leaders and community partners. They heard directly from the people who experience and deliver programs and services and saw how SJCG's approach to care is being put into practice. Surveyors recognized the respect SJCG's teams demonstrate for the people they serve, as well as their low-barrier, responsive and supportive approach to care. They also highlighted the strong relationships SJCG has built with partners across Northwestern Ontario and recognized the organization's commitment to advancing Indigenous cultural safety and Truth and Reconciliation.
"The people we serve deserve the safest, highest-quality care and services we can provide. That is the standard we hold ourselves to every day," said Janine Black, St. Joseph's Care Group's President & CEO. "We voluntarily participate in Accreditation Canada because an independent assessment against national standards challenges us to look closely at our practices, recognize where we are doing well and identify where we can do better. We are proud to be Accredited with Commendation. This recognition reflects the work happening across SJCG, and our commitment to quality and safety continues every day."
St. Joseph's Care Group's Quality Journey
Accreditation is just one part of SJCG's ongoing journey to strengthen the quality and safety of care and services. Quality is prioritized year-round through a range of activities that help SJCG understand how care is experienced, monitor performance and identify opportunities for improvement.
This includes but is not limited to annual Client Satisfaction Surveys, which give clients an opportunity to provide feedback on their care experience; input from Client & Family Partners, which brings the perspectives of people with lived experience into planning and improvement; quality and safety indicators, which help teams monitor performance and identify areas that may require attention; and Quality Improvement Plans, which set out specific actions to address identified opportunities and track progress. Together, these activities create an ongoing cycle of listening, measuring, learning, and taking action to strengthen care and services.
This ongoing focus on quality and safety is part of SJCG's commitment to providing high-quality, people-centred care, one of the organization's strategic priorities. By listening to feedback, reviewing evidence and monitoring results, SJCG can continue to build on what is working well and respond to opportunities to strengthen care and services.
Accreditation Canada's assessment adds an independent perspective to this ongoing work, recognizing the quality and safety practices in place across SJCG.
For more information, please contact:
St. Joseph's Care Group
Communications & Government Relations
Media Line: 807-768-4455 | Email: sjcg@tbh.net
