Fonds F44 - Canadian Psychiatric Association (CPA) fonds

The Canadian Psychiatric Association (CPA) was established by a group of Canadian psychiatrists who had been long-time members of the American Psychiatric Association. They came to recognize the need to establish a separate national association within Canada to provide advisory, advocacy, educational, and other support services to the Canadian psychiatric community. After a few years of preliminary work to establish the Association, the CPA’s inaugural meeting was held during the annual meeting of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) on 20 June 1951. Its first officers were elected at that time, with Dr. R.O. Jones elected as President. Notable aspects of the early years of the CPA’s activities include its establishment of the Bulletin, which was the forerunner of today’s well-respected journal, the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, in 1952. In 1956 the Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal (now the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry) was established to replace the Bulletin. The Bulletin newsletter was created in 1961 to help keep CPA members informed about current news and activities pertinent to the Association. Other notable areas of activity include the CPA’s work to provide training opportunities as well as to revise and improve available professional education and certification in psychiatry, its advocacy work with respect to healthcare coverage for psychiatric illnesses, and its networking and liaison work with other related professional associations such as its provincial affiliates and the CMA. The CPA underwent significant organizational changes in 1972 with the restructuring and streamlining of its committees to form four councils that focused the areas of: management and administration of the Association; liaising with various levels of governments and other professional associations in the medical field; scientific research in the field of psychiatry; and professional education, accreditation, and standards development. Further, the administrative structure was modified to become comprised of a Board of Directors with an Executive Committee as opposed to the former traditional hierarchical structure (i.e., President, Vice-President, Secretary, etc.). A new constitution and by-laws were also adopted at that time. In the 1970s, the CPA moved from an advocacy role more towards the setting of standards for psychiatric education and the development of position papers for Canadian psychiatrists on a variety of pertinent issues such as abortion and child abuse. Today the CPA has returned to fulfilling an advisory role but has also maintained a strong interest in theoretical research and policy development. It continues to work closely with other federal and provincial medical associations such as the Ontario Psychiatric Association and the Canadian Medical Association on issues of common interest.