By Dr. Ann Collins, CMA President; Dr. Sandy Buchman, CMA Past President; Dr. Katharine Smart, CMA President-Elect
In the past 17 months, health care has faced unprecedented pressures and experienced some seismic shifts. New ways of providing care have been adopted, physicians have leveraged their voice as health leaders and the importance of strong health systems has been underscored.
Yet despite these gains, long-standing inequities in our system have also been exposed. With the pandemic showing us we can do things differently, we now need to seize this opportunity to build real change in health and society.
The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) wants to be central to this much-needed call for change. To do this, we need to engage a diverse group of leaders to help shape our association and our future work. And so, we need to ensure our board and committees are made up of people from a broad range of communities and backgrounds.
Like so many medical professionals who pivoted during the pandemic, we need to re-think models and structures that were created decades ago. This is why we’re proposing a series of governance changes at our Aug. 22 Annual General Meeting (AGM) to evolve our leadership search processes. Here is an overview of these changes and why they are needed.
Board members selected using a deliberate model
Diversity and equity cannot be left to chance. We need to be deliberate and purposeful in ensuring we have a board and committees that reflect the full diversity of our profession and the patients we serve, so we can build a better health future for all people in Canada. A new Leadership and Diversity Search Committee (LDSC) is proposed to collaborate with provincial/territorial medical associations and traditionally under-represented groups to seek out potential candidates, and to conduct effective outreach. The LDSC will recommend individuals who meet an evolving set of skills and diversity attributes to fill vacancies on the CMA board and committees.
More direct member involvement in board and committee member selection
In the past, a small group of delegates voted to ratify committee and board positions. The proposed governance changes will expand this process to include all registered CMA members in attendance at the AGM; every CMA member will have the opportunity to participate.
President-elect nominee voted by all
The CMA presidency rotates annually among the provinces and territories; next year’s president-elect nominee will be a BC physician. Under the current process, only CMA members in that province would be eligible to vote for the position. The proposed changes would extend this vote to all CMA members, to better reflect the national scope of the presidency and the responsibility of the role to represent the profession across Canada.
Proposed changes informed by expert advice
Our proposed governance changes were developed following consultation with experts in equity, diversity and inclusion. We also held roundtables and webinars with physicians and learners about #EDI and the proposed changes, and we looked to other national professional associations for best practices in their leadership search processes.
As we set our sights on addressing gaps exposed by the pandemic, we recognize that equity and diversity are core to our future as an association and as a profession.
We urge all physicians and learners who share these goals and this vision to register for the AGM and vote yes to these bylaw changes on Aug. 22.
This piece was published in the Medical Post.