Introduction: The time to treatment for cancer is a concern for health authorities, as highlighted in national cancer plans. Cancer registries provide these indicators without recruitment bias. Methods: Median times to initial treatment after diagnosis were calculated in days. They are presented for all cases of colorectal, breast, thyroid, and central nervous system cancers, as well as for malignant hematologic diseases diagnosed between 1999 and 2008. Results: For patients receiving treatment, the median time between diagnosis and first treatment varied, depending on the department and the cancer’s location, between 9 days (colon) and 44 days (malignant hematological diseases). It increased over time for colorectal and breast cancers, as well as neuroepithelial and meningeal tumors; it decreased for thyroid and cranial nerve cancers; and it varied little for hematologic malignancies. Conclusion: The time to initiation of treatment following the initial diagnosis of cancer varied depending on its location and over time. The reasons for this variability are numerous and may be partly linked to changes in care based on patient and tumor characteristics, as well as to variations in the availability of and access to care. It is necessary to continue collecting such health indicators, established at multiple locations across the country and derived from long-term surveillance systems, to accurately measure the contribution of each of these factors. (R.A.)