It has been more than 30 years since the Satanic Panic gripped popular culture. Millions were convinced there was an epidemic of child abuse stemming from satanic beliefs and rituals. There was no evidence to support these claims. There were TV specials, arrests, prosecutions, and even convictions – all based on something that never happened. Dr Randy Paterson joins the CPA podcast Mind Full to look back at this phenomenon. He draws a parallel to today’s QAnon beliefs, and points out psychology’s role not only in explaining the panic in retrospect, but in fueling the flames in the first place.

Podcasts and Profiles

The Council of Professional Associations of Psychology (CPAP), in collaboration with the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA), is seeking input on a potential group benefits plan for psychologists.

We ask that you please complete the brief survey below which asks whether you’re interested in a group benefits plan and if so, the coverage and features you would like offered/implemented.

English – https://web2.cpa.ca/membersurveys/index.php/415456?lang=en

French – https://web2.cpa.ca/membersurveys/index.php/415456?lang=fr

Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey.

The CPA has created new “Psychology Works” Fact Sheets on Young Kids and Screens and on Teens and Screens.

• Young Kids and Screens – PDF | HTML
• Teens and Screens – PDF | HTML

You can find all of our “Psychology Works” Fact Sheets here

The Canadian Psychological Association’s Scientific Affairs Committee (SAC) is currently recruiting new members. The SAC’s primary aim is to advance psychological science by working on matters of importance to the psychological research community, CPA members and affiliates, and groups of researchers. It is also responsible for the policies and practices of the CPA’s journals and other publications.

Yearly activities of SAC members include reviewing student research grant applications, providing input on CPA journal matters (e.g., publishing agreements, open-access wording, publishing standards), and reviewing special issue proposals for the journals. Additional activities will come up throughout the term. For more information on the SAC, or to read the SAC Terms of Reference, click here.

If you are interested in joining the important work of the SAC, please send a letter of intent and updated CV to Dr. Lauren Thompson, CPA’s Science Director at science@cpa.ca. In your letter of intent, please specify whether your research falls primarily within the mandate of SSHRC, NSERC, or CIHR.

It is with great pleasure that the CPA’s Board of Directors releases the CPA’s 2025-2030 Strategic Plan.

The CPA’s Board wishes to thank all members, affiliates, and associates who took the time, whether as individuals or as part of a collective, to provide input as part of our open consultation and call for feedback. With the new Strategic Plan, we have refreshed the CPA’s Vision, Mission, and Strategic Priorities.  More…

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

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

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.

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.

In January 2025, the Federal Minister of Health issued a letter of interpretation on the Canada Health Act that identified certain regulated professions (nurse practitioners, midwives and pharmacists) as providing “physician equivalent services” and should be publicly insured by the provinces and territories. However, psychology was specifically not recognized, see CPA’s response.

CPA2025 will take place from June 12-14, 2025, at the St. John’s Conference Centre in St. John’s, NL. Pre-convention Professional Development Workshops to take place on June 11^th. This is an event not to be missed!

CPA Student Affiliates who identify as Indigenous can obtain a registration fee waiver if registering by June 3rd.

(http://convention.cpa.ca/registration/)