CMSA Meeting Minutes March 25th, 2026

Written By CMSA IT

March 25th, 2026

Present: Rica, Sara, Ryan, Antonio, Ore, Eliana, Ijun, Jaspreet, Duaa, Catherine
Absent:
Council: Ryan, Noam, Nicole, Antonio, Ore, Eliana, Ijun, Jaspreet, Duaa, Catherine, Sara, Rica

Minutes

Updates

VP Communication - Eliana

VP Academics - Jaspreet, Nicole

RPCC

  • Attendance Changes on par with other schools

  • EMR on FreshSheet are being improved for Block 3

  • Block 3 will bring back foundational weeks.

  • More sessions on professionalism, physician health, and resilience and feedback are planned for Block 1 (Class of 2029)

  • Planning to collect feedback on Class of 2028 Journal Club experience, as there was unsatisfactory feedback from last year

  • Improvements to Scholarly Project

    • Connecting individuals to potential supervisors

    • Improving communication about the expectations of a scholarly activity, and expanding the scope of potential projects (ex. QI)

  • Block 3 Launchpad will be returning and expanded.

  • Ensuring tutorials are more complex, with more opportunities to develop treatment plans

    • Based on student feedback

SEC

  • Exam Schedule and Score Release Dates

Clerkship

  • UCLIC Information Session and Application Released

  • Schools must start using AFMC portal for home electives

  • Clerkship guides were discussed at Academic Round Table, some of our peers from the upper year classes put together a great one.

Academic Round Tables

  • Next one will be in-person at the SGM in Ottawa.

  • Nobody had any suggestions regarding TopHat or mandatory attendance, most schools use TopHat QR codes for this purpose.

Update for the council from VPAs:

  • This evening there is a Satellite Campus round table at 5:30PM. We will have some of our Potoo peers attending. From our council we will have Duaa, Ryan, Jaspreet, Nicole, Noam, Ore, Ijun, and Antonio attending (as well as anyone else that is available). ‘

  • Pertinent to engage with schools that have satellite campuses as we plan/think about orientation events, student governance, and integration of both campuses.

VP Finance - Antonio

  • Final budget updates - outlook with final updates

  • Down to ~$6,000 deficit with budget updates

  • All portfolios took a cut except for EDIIA. Administrative fees (e.g. jotform fee, CMSA meeting funds) and unspecified funding (contingency and general funding) were primarily cut. The winter formal funding was removed.

  • Increased revenue streams, in spite of reduced UME funding over the last 3 years. Funding

  • Approval of budget

  • Potential increase of fees of up to $50 for the incoming 2029 class. This may or may not be required and will be decided pending potential income sources like sponsorships materializing

  • Sponsorship relationship building and orientation organization

  • Continuing conversations and collaboration with the President and VP events regarding implementation of orientation package. Aim to complete the orientation package in the next week.

  • Community engagement strategy for budget

  • Providing budget to members and providing virtual method for feedback

VP Events - Catherine, Ijun

Jersey

  • Jerseys have been ordered and cheque passed to SkateDoc, he has an alternative t-shirt vendor he is sending us but won’t be for a while

Education Day

  • This weekend, Ijun will be there to take attendance before bus leaves, hands off for the rest of the event

Stethoscope Ceremony

  • We had a meeting with Dr. Bromley and Shannon

  • Meeting with Kelly from SAMP about SAMP involvement

  • SAMP wants to have a separate ceremony, to celebrate their community

  • Meeting to discuss next week

  • Looking for additional funds or ways to reduce costs, including alternative venues:

    • Atrium

    • Hyatt

    • Mac Hall - best option. Venue costs less ($3,000) and can potentially also have refreshments here.

  • Sponsorship for orientation events - working on sponsorship package

  • Budget adjustments

  • Reduced budgets as much as we can considering possible sponsorship and SAMP contributions

  • Once SITC is over will switch gears fully to sponsorship for orientation

Grad fundraiser

  • Social directors were interested in doing more fundraisers for grad, providing more opportunities for classmates to be involved in organizing events

VP Global Health - Sara

  • Attended the PDoA in Edmonton March 15-16

  • Joined CFMS Roundtable and discussed the new Global Health Hub and future Global Health events in the upcoming year

  • There is strong interest in hosting a simulation event on campus some time in October in collaboration with the Global Health Office and Dr Annalee Coakley

  • Currently planning

VP External (Provincial) - Noam

  • Attended AMA Spring RF in Edmonton on March 13-14 with 7 student observers from UofC. The next RF will be happening in Calgary in September.

  • AMA will be adding two more spots at future AMA RFs for Lethbridge students to attend.

  • PDoA in Edmonton happened March 15-16 and went well! We had some good discussions with policymakers and received positive feedback from students. We had over 30 student delegates and met with more than 20 MLAs. We were even featured on CTV News!

  • We are working on a release and will aim to send out to students, the Medical Students Advocacy Committee, and the AMA’s doctors digest.

  • We were requesting extra funding in budget as it has been tight this year.

  • We have gotten extra funding ($4500) for this year’s event. Need to make sure that any leftover money goes towards future PDoA’s. This will likely allow us to keep our budget unchanged for next year as leftover money goes towards next year’s event.

  • Have also applied for funding for next year’s PDoA - to discuss with VP finance how we can put that money aside for next year.

  • Hosting a “Meet the AMA President” lunch talk where Dr. Brian Wirzba, President of the AMA, will give a lunchtime presentation to students on May 8.

VP External (National) - Ore

  • Joined CFMS Representatives Roundtable (RRT) in March 2026 and discussed Match day, snow day policies, national educational experiences and Success in Medicine Curriculum, as well as Board Updates and CMSC Reminders

  • Distributed National survey - CFMS: Student Experiences With the AFMC Electives Portal 2.0 Survey

  • The Canadian Federation of Medical Students (CFMS) represents medical students on AFMC committees that oversee the AFMC Electives Portal. This past year marked the first cycle under the Portal’s new Capacity-Based Model, including changes to how visiting elective capacity is allocated via a lottery-based distribution.

  • We’re collecting feedback from final-year students who used the Portal this year to better understand what worked, what didn’t, and where student advocacy is needed moving forward. There is strong interest in these findings from the AFMC and electives offices across Canada, and the CFMS will share a summary of results with relevant stakeholders to support concrete improvements to the visiting electives experience for students.

  • Sent acceptances for Round 4 of CMSA Conference Funding with the Conference Funding Committee (VPX-Provincial, VP Finance).

  • Attended PDOA!

VP SAW - Ryan

Jan/Feb Events:

Wellness Week (May 4-8)

TRY NOT to book anything this week (N95 plus lots of events!)

  • Pre-week: send reminder on April 27

  • Monday: intro to meditation talk (Jess) at lunch + button making after class

  • Tuesday: coffee/tea grab-and-go event (busy day so before class)

  • Wednesday: pet therapy at lunch (SAWH) + terrarium activity (afternoon/evening, sign-up required)

  • Thursday: evening presentation + dinner (Julian’s dad- student who passed away)

  • Friday: group walk to Village + prize giveaway (prizes TBD)

Dr.Kilam Q&A

  • Scheduled April 24th before lecture! (12:30-1:30pm outside Libin)

Review session on student supports on April 27th (3:30-4:50 Libin)

  • PFSP will be present

  • SAWH will be there

  • MHT representatives

Student Space Rep- Student Lounge

  • Student Lounge (people are not cleaning up after themselves)

  • Put up signs reminding people to do their dishes

  • Can purchase soap/brush so that cleaning materials are available

  • Funding is available for this

Student Groups

  • Antonio and I will review process

  • Possibly add wellness funding in future iteration?

  • Cindy has more questions I will be sent…

  • Weekly Wellness update from Jess in the newsletter

VP EDI - Rica

  • New EDIIA initiative from SJAC called Multilingual Medical Communication Workshop.

  • Reached out to AIMS to see if they would be willing to collaborate

  • Needing to do major funding for this event as it is not within the budget

President - Duaa

  • Clubs communications and funding application has been revised and shared with the class

    • CMSA_StudentGroup_ApplicationGuide_Final.pdf

    • CMSA_Student_Group_Final_Version.pdf

ACTION ITEM: Share qualtrics access with VP SAWH

Unselected Jersey Logos Initiative

  • Everyone who submitted logos has agreed to have their logo be used during Jersey Day to celebrate their efforts as well.

  • Approximate budgetary costs regarding button/pin materials and sticker costs (stickers can be made in-house by bookstore, $0.60 each for matte, $1 each for vinyl if min. 200 ordered)

  • Created sponsorship structure and revenue generation proposal and shared it with Shannon and Dr. Bromley for their advice/approval

ACTION ITEM: Connect with Kai regarding creating a sponsorship page on the website.

ACTION ITEM: Reach out to potential sponsors and finalize orientation packages by the end of next week.

  • Need to reach out to MedHousing, financial institutions (MNP, RBC, Scotiabank/MD Financial, and other groups (UniBanq, QBank, UWorld, etc.) regarding sponsorship.

  • Follow up with UniBanq who is keen to sponsor.

  • SAMP subcommittee has been created. Will be attending the SAMP meeting today.

Agenda

Previous Meeting Minutes Approval

2 minutes–Eliana

  • Mover: Jaspreet

  • Seconder: Antonio

Stethoscope Ceremony

10 minutes–Catherine, Ijun, Rica

Sponsorship Subcommittee & Orientation

10 minutes–Duaa, and Antonio

SAMP Subcommittee

10 minutes–Duaa, and Antonio

Subcommittee Members: Meetings on Wednesdays that we don’t have CMSA meetings

  • Rica

  • Ore

  • Sara

  • Antonio

  • Eliana

Attending SAMP related meeting on March 25th:

  • Duaa

  • Ryan

  • Antonio

  • Catherine

  • Ijun

  • Ore

  • Noam

  • Jas

  • Nicole

Action Items

CMSA Fee Motion:

THAT the annual membership fee for the Calgary Medical Students’ Association (CMSA) be increased up to $50, with the new fee taking effect beginning July 2026.

Mover: Ryan
Seconder: Antonio

MOTION PASSED

Budget approval:

Proposed 2026-2027 Budget

THAT the budget changes outlined in the “Proposed 2026-2027 Budget” document be approved as is.

Mover: Antonio
Seconder: Eliana

MOTION PASSED

CMSA IT https://calgarymsa.com
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