About the CFMS
The CFMS is an organization representing over 8,000 medical students from 15 Canadian medical student societies from coast to coast. We represent medical students to the public, to the federal government, and to national and international medical organizations.ATTACHMENTS:
OTTAWA, ON – June 19, 2019 - The CFMS is excited to be co-launching our CFMS/FMEQ Federal Election Strategy and releasing our “DIY (Do-It-Yourself) toolkit” as a resource for medical students to engage in various capacities in the upcoming federal election this fall! Please also take at look at a “guide to the federal election” from Elections Canada.
Medical students lead and engage in health advocacy work year-round that make lasting impacts on our healthcare systems and the health of all Canadians The CFMS and FMEQ have been proud to support medical student advocacy work across the country, and we encourage medical students to have continued discussions and sharing of important health-related public policy issues leading up to the upcoming federal election – as it is an opportune time to ensure national issues are debated, discussed, and ultimately addressed.
The purpose and objectives of the CFMS/FMEQ Federal Election Strategy are to 1) Foster excitement, interest, and engagement of medical students around voting in the federal election, the election process, and civic engagement, 2) Inform Canadian medical students with objective data to help make decisions about the major federal political parties and their points on various health-related issues, 3) facilitate issues-based advocacy for Canadian medical students on various priority issues concerning the medical student community, the healthcare system, and the health of Canadians.
We look forward to sharing our federal election primer in the upcoming months outlining objective information on various health and healthcare related issues, as well as a social media campaign on “Why I Vote” (participate by using the hashtags #IVoteCan and #JeVoteCan!) to have meaningful conversations on the importance of civic engagement.
If you’re interested in getting more involved in any way, including assisting in the development of the federal election primer and “Why I Vote” social media campaign, please don’t hesitate to contact the CFMS Director of Government Affairs, Yipeng Ge (email: [email protected]), or FMEQ Délégué aux affaires politiques, Guillaume Roy (email: [email protected]), or connect with your local CFMS Government Affairs and Advocacy representative at your school (visit us here: https://cfms.org/what-we-do/advocacy/our-team).
We are also very excited to be working with the Canadian Medical Association (https://www.cma.ca/) and Joule (https://joule.cma.ca/) on a podcast to answer your questions on the upcoming federal election – anything from how to engage to why this matters and impacts you – please email the CFMS Director of Government Affairs, Yipeng Ge (email: [email protected]), with your questions in English or French.
About the CFMS: The CFMS was founded in 1977 by Canadian medical students, and today 42 years later, the Canadian Federation of Medical Students (CFMS) represents over 8,400 medical students at 15 medical schools across Canada. As the national voice of Canadian medical students, the CFMS are tomorrow’s physicians leading for health today with the aim to connect, support, and represent its membership as they learn to serve patients and society.
About the FMEQ: The “Fédération médicale étudiante du Québec” or FMEQ was founded in 1974 by the four medical student associations in Quebec, – namely the AGÉMUS of the University of Sherbrooke, the MSS of McGill University, the RÉMUL of Laval University and the AEEMUM of the University of Montreal – representing more than 4,000 medical students. The FMEQ has the role of defending and promoting the collective interests specific to medical students in Quebec particularly in pedagogical, political and social matters. It promotes communication and collaboration between student associations and their members. It establishes partnerships to provide specific services to associative and individual members.