December Council Update

President-Elect Nomination

Dr. Kevin Convery's nomination for President-Elect by the Executive Committee was acclaimed.  He will step into the role on June 25, 2025.

Dr. Convery has represented the East Electoral District since June 2018 and has been Chair of the Investigation Committee since June 2020.

NEW Path to Truth and Reconciliation Developments 

Council approved mandatory anti-Indigenous racism training for CPSM Registrants and the Standard of Practice for Eliminating Anti-Indigenous Racism. Both are recommended actions from the CPSM Indigenous Advisory Circle.

It is crucial to view the mandatory training and Standard of Practice, along with a third action – the Restorative Practices Program, as complementary to each other. Mandatory education will impact how you view and put the Standard into practice and both initiatives will rely on the Restorative Practice Program.

The Restorative Practices Program is intended to be positive and restorative. Its focus will be repairing or restoring relationships, fixing harm, and preventing further harm. It is non-punitive and intended to support personal growth, learning, and improvement.

APPROVED: Standard of Practice – Practicing Medicine to Eliminate Anti-Indigenous Racism

Council approved the Standard of Practice – Practicing Medicine to Eliminate Anti-Indigenous Racism.

This approval is a culmination of 16 months of development by a working group of members from the Indigenous Advisory Circle and Indigenous groups that helped inform the Standard. Pre-consultations were held with Indigenous people and experts in anti-racism, Indigenous health care providers, the Manitoba Métis Federation, Doctors Manitoba, and CMPA. This was followed by a public consultation. Following the consultation, the working group reviewed and considered all feedback received. The Standard of Practice was then revised before being submitted for Council approval.

Successful implementation of the Standard will rely on the Restorative Practices Program being developed in the Quality Department and supported by the mandatory education component.

The Executive Committee will decide on an effective date for the Standard once the Restorative Practices Program is ready to launch. 

We will share key tenets of the Standard over the coming months to support understanding and education of the Standard leading up to its implementation. 

Restorative Practices Program

The Restorative Practices Program will provide a mechanism for an educational and supportive approach allowing registrants, whether self-identified or referred by colleagues or health professionals, to start with a conversation with a medical consultant and CPSM staff to enhance their understanding and application of the Standard of Practice – Practicing Medicine to Eliminate Anti-Indigenous Racism.

CPSM is in the process of hiring a program director (a medical consultant) with expertise in anti-Indigenous health-related racism and restorative practices and a program coordinator will also be hired to assist the program director. Council approved the program in September 2024.

APPROVED: Mandatory Training (Education)

Education is imperative to eliminating anti-Indigenous racism in the practice of medicine. Understanding what anti-Indigenous racism is, identifying it, and knowing what steps to take to eliminate it, is fundamental. Knowledge comes from education and this education is mandatory for all registrants.

The following motion was passed for mandatory education:

1. All registrants (subject to clause #4) are required to complete one of the four educational programs identified or an equivalency approved by CPSM by October 31, 2027.

The four programs are:

• • Giga Mino Ganawenimaag Anishinaabeg (“We will take good care of the people”), University of Manitoba, Ongonisszwin-Indigenous Institute of Health and Healing
  • The Path: Your Journey through Indigenous Canada (CMA version), NVision Insight Group
  • San’yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Online Training, San’yas Anti-Racism Indigenous Cultural Safety Training Program
  • Indigenous Health Program, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences – Max Rady College of Medicine

2. All new registrants after October 31, 2025, must complete the education within two years of becoming registered with CPSM. 

3. All registrants must take additional education every five years after completing the first round of education.

4. If a registrant has taken one of the identified education programs before December 18, 2024, they will be deemed to have satisfied the requirement. They will be required to take additional education specified (#3) within five years of completing their initial education.

More details will be available in the new year. 

Approved for Public Consultation

Council approved two items for public consultation:

1. Addition of non-exempted codeine products to the Manitoba Prescribing Practices Program (M3P)

In Manitoba, the prescribing of codeine remains more prevalent than any other opioid and continues to contribute to more accidental overdose deaths than any other opioid.

The addition of codeine to the M3P schedule was reviewed and discussed extensively by the Quality Prescribing Working Group. The group recommended adding non-exempted codeine products to the M3P schedule; doing so requires approval from both the College of Pharmacists of Manitoba Council (CPhM) and CPSM. CPhM Council approved the addition in September of 2024.

Adding codeine to M3P would mean adding Tylenol #2 and Tylenol #3 to the M3P schedule. Exempted codeine products such as Tylenol #1 would not be added to the M3P schedule to maintain patient access for acute pain management, especially after hours and on weekends.

Adding codeine to the M3P schedule balances the need for appropriate prescribing with access to assessment and treatment of acute pain.

A 30-day public consultation to collect feedback regarding this change will launch in January. 

2. Amendment to the Practice Direction – Professional Practice and Inactivity

In the Practice Direction – Professional Practice and Inactivity, section 7.3, can be interpreted to preclude family physicians from providing prenatal care beyond 14 weeks of pregnancy. It was not intended for the Practice Direction to limit prenatal care in this manner.

The proposed amendment is to remove section 7.3 to prevent confusion regarding the provision of prenatal care by family physicians and any implications that they can only provide prenatal care up to a specific gestation.

Proposed amendments to a Practice Direction must be posted on the CPSM website for consultation (section 83(d) of The Affairs of the College Bylaw.)

A 30-day public consultation to collect feedback regarding this change will launch in January. 

New Council Policies

Council approved the following three new Council Policies:

• Council Policy - Registration Assessment Candidate Specialty Practice Classes, and Provisional Non-Practicing Classes

Currently, these matters are addressed in section 2.2.2. and 2.15 of the Practice Direction - Qualifications and Registration. The Council Policy adds explanatory notes and combines various requirements for provisional registration into one document.

One substantive change is removing the requirement for Council to approve all new fields that the Max Rady College of Medicine at the University of Manitoba can assess through its Practice Ready Assessment program. To date, the Max Rady College of Medicine was required to request approval from the CPSM Council before assessing a new field of practice through the International Medical Graduate (IMG) Program. This change is based on established trust between CPSM and the IMG Program.

The Council Policy - Registration Assessment Candidate Specialty Practice Classes, and Provisional Non-Practicing Classe is effective December 18, 2025.

• Council Policy – Certificates of Practice

This new policy replaces Part 1 of the Practice Direction - Qualifications and Registration.

The policy adds explanatory notes and references to the CPSM General Regulation and includes details about when a certificate of practice is required for administrative work, research, and teaching. There are no significant changes in the new policy.

The Council Policy – Certificates of Practice is effective December 18, 2025.

• Council Policy – Appeals from Investigation Committee Decisions

The new Council Policy – Appeals from Investigation Committee Decisions policy combines multiple documents addressing specific issues related to appeals of Investigation Committee decisions into one place.

The new policy clarifies the roles, responsibilities, and procedures for internal appeals to ensure transparency, streamlines the appeal process to reduce delays and administrative burden and provides a balanced process that upholds the principles of natural justice through additional information about standards of review.

A user summary will be developed for public use.

The Council Policy – Appeals from the Investigation Committee is effective December 18, 2025.

• Amendment to Council Policy - Specialist Register

Council approved an amendment to the Council Policy - Specialist Register (Appendix A), which was recently updated to expand those eligible for registration on the Specialist Register. Certain categories of full registration were inadvertently missed. A new “special circumstance” was added to section 2.2 of the policy.

The amendment is effective December 18, 2025.