Congratulations to Heather K. Gower and Graham Gaine for their article, Ethics of psychotherapy rationing: A review of ethical and regulatory documents in Canadian professional psychology (2024, Vol. 65, Issue 1, pp. 15-27) which was selected as the winner of the 2024 Best Article Award in Canadian Psychology / Psychologie canadienne.

The CP Editorial team nominates articles for this award, and the articles are adjudicated by the CPA Board of Directors representing Science, Practice, and Education.

This article is now Free to Read, to access it, click here.

Congratulations to Scott Davies and Angran Li for their article, Effects of summer numeracy interventions among French-language students in Ontario (2024, Vol. 56, Issue 3, pp. 195-204) which was selected as the winner of the 2024 Best Article Award in the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science / Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement.

The CJBS Editorial team nominates and adjudicates articles for this award.

This article is now Free to Read, to access it, click here.

This week’s episode of the CPA’s Mind Full podcast speaks with Dr. Alison Phillips and Julia Standefer, researchers at Iowa State University, about the situation in the United States and the proliferation of anti-trans legislation.

Podcasts and Profiles

• 2024-2025 Annual Report
• Key Highlights of the 2024 Audit Report

For more information, see the Annual General Meetings and Reports page.

Congratulations to Véronic Delage, Richard J. Daker, Geneviève Trudel, Ian M. Lyons, and Erin A. Maloney for their article, It is a “small world”: Relations between performance on five spatial tasks and five mathematical tasks in undergraduate students (2024, Vol. 78, Issue 4, pp. 256-274) which was selected as the winner of the 2024 Best Article Award in the Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology / Revue canadienne de psychologie expérimentale.

The CJEP Best Article Award is co-sponsored by the CPA and the Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour and Cognitive Science (CSBBCS). The CJEP Editorial team nominates articles for this award, and the articles are adjudicated by CPA and CSBBCS appointed members.

This article is now Free to Read, to access it, click here.

The CPA Convention Student Travel Grant, valued up to $500, will be awarded to CPA Student Affiliates registered to attend the CPA’s 2025 Annual National Convention in St. John’s, NL from June 12th – 14th. The travel grant is intended to help students offset costs related to travel and accommodation (e.g., plane or train ticket, gas, hotel stay). The deadline to apply for this grant is May 31, 2025.

2025 CPA Convention Student Travel Grant

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 Extended to May 19, 2025

On December 17th, 2024, the CPA’s Board of Directors approved the Psychological Tele-Assessment: Guidelines for Canadian Psychologists.

For more information, or to download a copy of the guidelines, click here. (PDF)

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.

CLOSED for 2025 – Deadline for applications is May 10th, 2025.

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

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.