When the results of the Canada’s national honey bee colony loss survey were published in July 2025, they came as no surprise. According to the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists, an estimated 36 per cent of Canada’s 830,000 honey bee colonies had perished over the winter.
These figures used to make headlines. But after almost two decades of the same story ― colonies dying in the winter, beekeepers struggling to rebuild, somewhat succeeding, rinse and repeat ― the sad statistics are no longer news, and we are still working out why the cycle persists.
