President’s Message

Dear Members, 

It is with great appreciation for my fellow PA colleagues, CAPA members, staff and our Board that I write to you on this beautiful spring day. This past year brought both unprecedented challenge and significant growth. From combating a global pandemic to the announcement of regulation in Alberta and Ontario, massive change continues to occur for our personal and professional lives as PAs.  

PAs continue to rise to the demands placed on our health care system, demonstrating our skills professionally and collaboratively. As integral members of health care teams, PAs cultivate values of inclusivity and tolerance.  The professionalism and strength of our members makes me very proud to be a PA and to serve as your CAPA President.  

As our profession continues to flourish so does our professional association. CAPA grew this year in numbers and vigor as members of our skilled and tenacious staff were promoted to new roles and new personnel were welcomed. With a full complement of dedicated support, I am eager to see our strategic plan enacted and our key pillars achieved.  One of the major accomplishments this year has been the achievement of a balanced budget. 

With our profession on the cusp of realizing exponential growth, working with physicians, community leaders, government and decision-makers has never been more important. To that end, advocacy continues in British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.  We have our sights set on integrating PAs across the country, to enable PAs to practice in every jurisdiction.  

It is also important to prioritize and increase educational advocacy efforts to ensure that we are meeting the demand for more PAs in our health care systems. As our profession becomes a key component of a strong and sustainable Canadian health care system, more PAs will be required.  

In the meantime, in our daily practice we continue to address health care system challenges, battling the pandemic, addressing systemic barriers and biases, and improving care for an aging population – PAs are part of the solution. We will continue to demonstrate this, highlighting our skills and our value on social media and utilizing all available avenues and opportunities for exposure, amplifying our advocacy efforts.  

We are all stewards of our profession. Our CAPA membership directly contributes to the success PAs have achieved as a profession in Canada, and to our future. These successes would not be possible without your collective hard work representing and demonstrating your skills as PAs and without our unified voice.  

Sincerely, 

Leslie St. Jacques, CCPA
President
lsjacques@capa-acam.ca