On the CEO’s side – September 2025
Dear colleagues,
We are resuming our academic activities with great enthusiasm and minds full of ideas. We are never short of new ideas and are exploring several business models in consultation with our peers. We are proud of the agility of our team. We must adapt our strategies to the market: competition is fierce in educational activities for health care professionals — but not for women.
Many of you have volunteered for media engagements, and we thank you for that. We will be creating a pool of local experts in each province because, in health, as that’s where things happen. We need credible people to meet with governments and to educate women and the LGBTQ+ community. Together, we always make the best decisions. If we can’t get the attention of the Ministers of Health, our women’s education initiatives and the informational tools we provide will help women demand what they are entitled to: services and care!
Our first goal will be to establish clinics for the management of early pregnancy loss across the country and to ensure that women no longer have to choose between paying $400 for mifepristone and misoprostol or opting for a curettage just because it’s free — even though we know it costs four times more… If your teams already have this advantage, send us your success stories! We will share them with everyone using our tools. A big thank you to Dr. Modupe Tunde-Byass who got the ball rolling on this file in Toronto — truly inspiring!
Even though we have not seen the slightest sign of potential funding from Health Canada, and there is talk of possible cuts, we are continuing our current initiatives and limiting our expenses. The very good news is that our colleagues are once again becoming SOGC members. As of today, we are 3,250 strong and are reconnecting with our subspecialist colleagues, whom we will involve once again.
The practice of obstetrics and gynaecology has never been more challenging, with a critical shortage of human resources in our working environments. We must regain the benefits of collective power and identify the knowledge and skills we need in environments that are changing at lightning speed.
You’ll be pleased to know that we are resuming our exchanges with coroners and the CMPA to identify recurring challenges and provide you with tools adapted to your practice and to emerging needs. In that regard, we want to stay closely connected to your needs to tailor our content training strategies accordingly.
Please fill out our occasional micro-surveys and evaluate our events by offering suggestions that push us out of our comfort zone. Rest assured, we are in direct contact with our sister societies, and this collegiality recently led to us being invited to collaborate on the development of joint guidelines with EBCOG (European Board & College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology). We are very proud to be the only non-European country to receive such an invitation.
Starting in September, we’ll be adding a new section to our website that tracks emerging social media trends around health misinformation and sexual and reproductive rights. It will be designed to keep you informed and give you insight into what your patients are seeing and what may be influencing their choices.
We are here for you.
Dr. Diane Francoeur
FRCSC, MHCM, ICD.D
Chief Executive Officer