The CPA is pleased to announce the winners of the 2025 CPA Student Research Grants. These grants recognize exceptional student research in all areas of psychology. This year, grants were provided by the CPA, jointly by the CPA and CSBBCS, and by BMS Canada.

Congratulations to all!

The CPA wishes to thank all members and affiliates who have taken the time to provide their input on our next strategic plan in response to our open consultation and call for feedback. The feedback has been a crucial component of the development process; it has been impactful and central to meaningful discussion amongst the Board and we made adjustments accordingly.

We have received several communications today expressing concern that the CPA is eliminating goals related to EDIA and Reconciliation from our next Strategic Plan. We would like to communicate to all our membership that the CPA remains committed to addressing equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility, as well as being accountable to calls to action regarding reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. Elimination of EDIA and Reconciliation from the Strategic Plan was never considered by the Board. Rather, early considerations focussed on how to more deeply incorporate and embed EDIA and Reconciliation within our next Strategic Plan so that EDIA and Reconciliation would be ingrained in all that we do. The valuable feedback we received on our early proposal allowed us to strengthen our plan by considering how to include AND strengthen goals about EDIA and reconciliation within the CPA’s next Strategic Plan

The Board is continuing its work on the next strategic plan and we look forward to sharing it with our membership when it is finalized.  What we can share now is that CPA’s next strategic plan will envision a society that values and applies psychological science in the benefit of persons, communities, organizations, and peoples.  It will serve the public and its membership by advancing psychological science, practice, and education through research, advocacy, and collaboration. It will be a voice, supporter, advocate, and promoter of psychology all while supporting and promoting a profession, discipline, and association in which all are welcomed, included, and represented, and that continues to be accountable to reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.

Now that the 2025 federal election is underway, there will likely be opportunities for members to engage with their (local) candidates. To assist members in thinking about the kinds of questions they may want to ask, the CPA has identified several (PDF).

The purpose of this program is to encourage and support Indigenous (Inuit, First Nations, or Métis) students in psychology in Canadian universities. This is an academic merit-based award that also takes into consideration life factors such as motivation to excel in the field of psychology and level of need in overcoming barriers to attending university.

Application requirements include official transcript, CV or resume, personal statement, and one letter of support.

This year, the CPA welcome applications for one (1) graduate scholarship. Eligible students must be:

1. Indigenous;
2. a CPA student affiliate in good standing at time of application, and if successful for the duration of the scholarship length; and
3. entering graduate studies or be a current graduate student at a Canadian university.

Value of the scholarship is $4000.00 per year, renewable for up to five additional years.

Deadline for applications is May 10th, 2025.

Click here to apply: https://cpa.ca/machform/view.php?id=93738

Click here for full instructions: Instructions_Indigenous Bursary Application_April2025.pdf

The Student Section is the winner of the CPA Section Newsletter Award for their Fall 2024 newsletter (PDF).
version francais (PDF)

The CPA recognizes the efforts that the Sections put into creating and maintaining their newsletters. Section newsletters serve as an important communication tool to help keep members informed and involved in the Section and in CPA.

The eighty-sixth Annual General Meeting of the members of the Canadian Psychological Association will be held on Friday, June 13, 2025 at 8:00 am (NDT) at the St. John’s Convention Centre, for the purposes of:

1. receiving and considering the annual report of the President and Committees of the Association, and approving the minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting;
2. receiving and considering the financial statements, the report of the Auditor and any change in Membership and Affiliation Fees;
3. appointing of an Auditor;
4. election of the Board of Directors

BY ORDER OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, on the ninth day of April 2025.

Lisa Votta-Bleeker, Ph.D.

Chief Executive Officer

Members of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) are invited to make nominations for the following positions:

• Director Representing Practice (Click here for a description of the role)
• Two (2) Directors-at-Large (click here for a description of the role)

Note: All Board terms are for three years (beginning in June 2025). There are five Board meetings per year – two in person (at the location of the CPA’s Annual National Convention and in Ottawa in the fall) and three virtual (December, February, April).  Additional virtual meetings may be called as required. Directors in the 1^st or 2^nd year of their term are eligible to put their name forward for the role of President and Chair of the Board.

See the Board Nominations page for details.

The Committee on Ethics (CoE) of the CPA is committed to achieving broad discussions, and informed decisions and advice, through an inclusive ethics committee that reflects the diversity of the Canadian population. In keeping with this commitment, the CoE seeks qualified candidates who share its commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion. In addition, while all qualified candidates are invited to apply for committee membership, the CoE particularly welcomes candidates from the following equity-deserving groups: Indigenous Peoples, members of racialized groups, persons with disabilities, members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, and women.

For further information regarding minimum qualifications, desirable assets, and materials to be submitted, please go to https://cpa.ca/call-for-members-to-serve-on-cpa-committee-on-ethics/

Materials Submission Deadline: May 2, 2025

Dr. Steven Smith has been elected by the CPA Board of Directors to the position of CPA President and Chair of the Board for the 2025-2026 term. Dr. Smith will bring his extensive experience in connecting psychological science with applied contexts to the role.

Dr. Smith is a Professor of Psychology at Saint Mary’s University (SMU), where he has held a series of progressively senior positions, including the Associate Dean, and subsequently Dean, of Science at SMU. He then served as Associate Vice President Enrolment Management and Acting University Registrar, where he implemented programs focused on student retention and student success. He has significant experience with various boards, and is accustomed to dealing with issues of policy and governance. Dr. Smith is an active researcher, pursuing projects in the areas of health promotion, student success, and forensic psychology.

At the CPA, Dr. Smith has been Chair of the Social and Personality Section, a member in good standing for more than 25 years, and for the past year has sat on the CPA Board of Directors as a Member At Large. As President, he intends to work toward enhancing the success of undergraduate students, in particular “supporting the integration of student success content into introductory psychology courses”.

We offer Dr. Smith our heartfelt congratulations, and we look forward to working with him even more closely in the year to come.

Glenn Brimacombe is the CPA’s Director of Policy and Public Affairs, and a registered lobbyist. Glenn advocates for mental health funding and parity (to get mental health coverage on par with physical health coverage), and joins the CPA podcast Mind Full with some ideas about how to keep mental health at the forefront of the issues as an election looms.
Podcasts and Profiles

A full list of the 2025 Fellow & Award recipients can be found on the CPA Awards page.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!

In January 2025, the Federal Minister of Health issued a letter of interpretation on the Canada Health Act that identified certain regulated professions (nurse practitioners, midwives and pharmacists) as providing “physician equivalent services” and should be publicly insured by the provinces and territories. However, psychology was specifically not recognized, see CPA’s response.

CPA2025 will take place from June 12-14, 2025, at the St. John’s Conference Centre in St. John’s, NL. Pre-convention Professional Development Workshops to take place on June 11^th. This is an event not to be missed!

CPA Student Affiliates who identify as Indigenous can obtain a registration fee waiver if registering by June 3rd.

(http://convention.cpa.ca/registration/)

Knowing that a federal election is around the corner, the CPA recognizes the importance and need to continue to invest in our collective mental health; which brings with it a number of health, social and economic dividends that benefit individuals, families, communities and the country as a whole. With the objective of contributing to the country’s public policy-making when it comes to mental health, the CPA has developed a policy primer entitled The Federal Government & Mental Health Policy…Preparing for the Next Federal Election. The CPA has focused on a select number of policy issues where the federal government can play a strong leadership role: (1) improving and expanding publicly funded access to psychological services; (2) improving employer-based coverage for psychological services; (3) increasing the number of practicing clinical psychologists, and (4) increasing investment in psychological research.