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Advocacy on National Licensure

The SRPC has sent a letter, with 11 other medical organizations as signatories to the federal, provincial, and territorial health ministers urging them to enable a national license.  Canadian Senators, Dr. Mo Ravalia, Dr. Stan Kutcher, Dr. Marie Françoise Mégie and Dr. Rosemary Moodie have issued a formal letter of support in response to our letter.  Special thank you to Dr. Kyle Sue for spearheading this initiative.  The SRPC is appreciative of the support we have received from the eleven other medical organizations that are signatories on the letter.

A submission was sent to the office of the federal Standing Committee on Health (HESA) in response to their consultation on Emergency Situation Facing Canadians in Light of the COVID-19 Pandemic.  In the brief submitted, the SRPC urges the federal government to support piloting a national licensure program so that health care providers can mobilize rapidly during times of crisis and provide coordinated, high‐quality care to everyone in Canada at all times, regardless of the jurisdictions in which they live.

SRPC Members Research Published - Rural Family Physician Perspectives on Communication with Urban Specialists

Dr. Margo Wilson from the Discipline of Emergency Medicine at Memorial University spoke to the Research Exchange Group on Rural Health about a qualitative study that examined rural family physician perspectives on communication with urban specialists.

Thank you to Kenora All Nations Health Partners, who generously sponsored this SRPC Newsletter. Click on their banner and visit their page.

Rural Research Spotlight

The Rural Research Spotlight is a new online resource that is now available on the SRPC website. The purpose of this resource is to promote collaboration and excellence in Canadian rural health research by:

  • curating a list of relevant research opportunities for students, residents, and physicians across Canada
  • promoting upcoming rural health research events
  • highlighting the results of recently published Canadian rural health research. 

Using this resource, we hope to promote research opportunities and events from a broad range of academic disciplines related to rural health, including public health, Indigenous health, medical education, sociology, and health geography, just to name a few.

This resource is actively maintained by the SRPC Research Standing Committee and we welcome you to submit rural health research opportunities or events to us. We also welcome your questions, comments, and feedback on how the resource can be improved to facilitate high-quality rural health research in Canada.  


SRPC Featured Member - Dr. Claire Denley

Claire Denley is a first year Family Medicine Resident. She grew up on the coast of BC between Roberts creek, the north shore, and Bowen Island, where she grew accustomed to the beauty of the coast and all its wonderful habitats.  This instilled in her a desire for exploration and adventure, which drove her to Ireland to complete her medical degree. Here, she immersed herself in a new environment and was able to learn from different cultures around Europe.

During her medical degree, Claire completed an observership in Sechelt, BC, just minutes away from her childhood hometown. It was here she fell in love with rural family medicine. She valued not only the immense diversity of the practice, but also the intimate connections formed with patients through dedication and understanding. Claire witnessed a standard of care incomparable to her experiences in urban settings and decided that this was what she wanted to bring to her future practice. Claire loves all avenues of family medicine (emergency, obstetrics, sports medicine) and this realization further supported her decision to become a rural family medicine physician.  She realized she would be granted the freedom to tailor her practice to her interests and the ability to be all of these specialists for her patients. Upon graduating in June 2021, Claire moved to a little town in Northern California called Hopland (population 921), where she will live while she completes her three years of rural family medicine training in Ukiah. Her program there promotes very diverse training with certification in POCUS.  Once this adventure in this beautiful region comes to a close, she plans to bring her diverse training background home to rural BC to start her own practice.

EM:RAP - Discount for first-time EM:RAP subscribers. The SRPC has a special Members Only Promo code. Request SRPC Code

Are you a resident interested in rural medicine?  The Society of Rural Physicians of Canada's Resident Committee is looking for you! Join our small but mighty group of residents helping promote rural practice and support rural residents in Canada. Deadline to apply is August 8, 2021.

CAEP CPD Needs Assessment


CAEP is renewing its accreditation with the Royal College. As part of their renewal, CAEP is reviewing the mission, vision and goals of our CPD to set the strategic direction of CAEP’s CPD offering over the next couple of years. With the global pandemic, it has changed how CPD is being offered and CAEP is looking for data not only on what type of offerings you’d like to receive, but also on how you want to receive your CPD going forward.

Your time to complete this survey is greatly appreciated. All responses to the survey are anonymous.


Successful Grant Application for Dr. Grzybowski

The project team led by Dr. Stefan Grzybowski and the SRPC were successful in the COVID-19 Pandemic Response & Impact Grant Program (Co-RIG) provided by the Foundation for Advancing Family Medicine and the Canadian Medical Association Foundation.  The project Enhancing Rural Community Resiliency to Climate Change and Ecosystem  Disruption: Building on the lessons learned from the first year of the COVID-19 Pandemic to Strengthen Rural Community Health and Health Services aims to explore and build on lessons learned from rural community responses to COVID-19. 

Resiliency is a function of reducing vulnerability to unexpected events like disasters or disease outbreaks and enhancing the community's strengths to respond. Recognizing resilience means selecting strengths and capacities needed for coping, adapting, and transforming weaknesses from the previous system. Building resilience of rural community health services will underpin a learning system where upscaling and implementing innovative ideas can be applied across the system and interpreted through the lens of local expertise. The intervention we are planning will directly engage physician leaders through stories of resilience and strategies for strengthening rural health. We are planning to tell some of these stories at the next Rural & Remote Medicine Course in Ottawa.

Introducing the Rural Mental Wellness Toolkit

The Rural Mental Wellness Toolkit is the Stigma-Free Society’s response to the mental health crisis across North America in rural and agricultural communities. The toolkit provides tailored resources to this audience, including specific resources for youth, families and seniors. The Inspiring Stories section showcases videos of rural residents who open up the conversation around mental health and stigma. Peer Support Facilitator Training Program in collaboration with Robyn Priest LIVE YOUR TRUTH will be offered in the upcoming months for people living in rural and agricultural communities, who can then create peer support groups in these areas.

If you have any questions about this amazing new program, please don’t hesitate to contact the Stigma-Free Society at info@stigmafreesociety.com. Please share this announcement with your network, as well as your family and friends.

The Stigma-Free Society (SFS) is a Canadian registered charity since 2010. They are committed to combating stigma of all kinds that exist in our society, with a focus on the stigma around mental health and mental illness. The Society’s mission is to create awareness of the various stigmas that exist in the world, develop an understanding of the challenges that numerous people face, and encourage all people to foster acceptance of themselves and others.

SRPC Member, Dr. Darlene Kitty - Member of the NCIME Executive Committee 

The National Consortium on Indigenous Medical Education (NCIME) is a partnership between the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada, the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada, the College of Family Physicians of Canada, the Medical Council of Canada and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and was formed to implement Indigenous-led work streams that will reform Indigenous medical education and contribute to the delivery of culturally safe care.

Ensuring Indigenous Peoples access to care is high quality, culturally safe and free of racism begins with Indigenous-led systemic change in how medical professionals are instructed and evaluated. The NCIME will provide leadership and support to partners as they fulfil their collective responsibilities to respond to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), the TRC’s Calls to Action, and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Calls for Justice.

The NCIME was developed by Indigenous physicians working with health care organizations who recognized the need for collaboration to advance Indigenous medical education across the country. 

NCIME Executive Committee:

Leslie Spillet, Knowledge Keeper

Dr. Marcia Anderson, Chair

Danielle N. Soucy, Executive Director

Dr. Evan Adams

Dr. Sarah Funnell

Dr. Darlene Kitty

Dr. Lisa Richardson

Dr. Nel Wieman

SRPC's Recommendations on Rural Transfers included in Joint Report

On May 13, Choosing Wisely Canada and CADTH released a joint report Using Health Care Resources Wisely After the COVID-19 Pandemic: Recommendations to Reduce Low-Value Care. The report highlights 19 existing Choosing Wisely Canada recommendations to help decision-makers avoid reintroducing low-value services after the COVID-19 pandemic.

SRPC's recommendation on rural transfers was included in this report as a priority area for consideration.  Consensus of the recommendations was informed by a 10-member multidisciplinary panel of experts from across the country, including SRPC member Dr. Ken Milne.  They hope this work will help inform future efforts to address resource concerns beyond the pandemic. 

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      The SRPC’s Mission - Championing rural generalist medical care through education, collaboration, advocacy and research.

      The SRPC's Vision - Excellent health care close to home for all rural Canadians.

      info@srpc.ca    877-276-1949   P.O. Box 893 - 383 Rte 148   Shawville QC  J0X 2Y0