President's Message
I offer greetings to all CCMG members on behalf of the board of directors. Spring has arrived (officially at least). I am told flowers are blooming west of the Rockies, but to the far east many of us are still donning winter coats and clearing ice off of our windshields. No doubt the weather will catch up with the date eventually – I clearly can’t wait as golf clubs are already littering the trunk of my car!
I bring news of change at the CCMG head office. After many years of handling CCMG affairs, the Royal College closed their association management branch (known as RCAM) – with final operations ceasing on March 31. This closure has been the most challenging task that the board that the board has ever undertaken. It was decided that we should go through a Request for Proposal (RFP) process in order to find the best association management company (AMC) that we could. We took into account issues such as experience with medical associations, breadth of scope in delivery of services, bilingualism, cost and interview with other clients. Our choice in the end was Events and Management Plus. We are convinced that E&M Plus will provide us with the best service possible and look forward to many productive years in their capable hands. We look forward to working with our new manager, Heather Dow, who you will meet at the AGM in Toronto this year!
With the closure of RCAM, we will unfortunately lose Jessica Séguin, who has managed the CCMG since last summer and who will miss very much. We wish her the best for the future.
Other news – our committees are working hard on their respective mandates. The Accreditation committee has developed new forms that should make the re-accreditation process more streamlined. The ad hoc Examinations Committee is hard at work developing a new blueprint for the examination of our laboratory specialties. The Laboratory Practice and the Training Committees are spearheading discussions around the pros and cons of combining molecular and cytogenetic training and in the near future, CCMG members will be asked for input. The Constitution and Bylaws Committee is active again, responding to the ‘Not-for-Profit Corporations’ act requirements. The board has asked the Clinical Practice and the Education, Ethics and Public Policies Committees to research and develop guidelines for the use of next generation methods in clinical genetic practice and to develop a response to the ACMG statement on WGS and incidental findings. There is more, but
I am running out of space! I would just like to extend our thanks to all members of all of our committees for their commitment to the college and to the Canadian public as everything that they do, ultimately impacts on Canadian genetic healthcare.