Jun 28, 2022

Chair's Message: Marking milestones (June 2022)

Chair's Message, About DFCM, Divisions, Education, Faculty, Faculty Development, Global Health and Social Accountability, Grad Studies & Fellowships, MD Program, Quality and Innovation, Residency, The Office of Education Scholarship, Research
Danielle Martin

Dear colleagues,

As always, we greet the end of the academic year with much to celebrate and much to be grateful for.

Earlier this month, we welcomed 153 new family doctors at our virtual graduation ceremony. Congratulations to our newest cohort of family physicians! Thank you for all your hard work and accomplishments over the past two years, and a huge thank you to all the mentors in our department whose support and hard work were crucial – perhaps more with this cohort than ever. Our Postgraduate team and our DFCM faculty and preceptors have been models of optimism and flexibility through such an unstable few years. Graduation is a joint achievement of so many.

One of the gifts of this season, with the lower rates of COVID infection and the ability to be outdoors, is the possibility of seeing each other “IRL” – in real life! – once again.  Many of us had the opportunity to connect in person at DFCM’s first-ever FamilyMed Fest on June 21. So many colleagues commented that it was deeply satisfying to be able to finally connect in-person with friends and colleagues old and new.

June 21 also marked National Indigenous Peoples Day, where we highlight and celebrate the diverse cultures and remarkable contributions of Indigenous peoples to Canadian history and to our present-day communities, organizations and institutions. We took this opportunity to introduce the newly-launched Indigenous Leadership Circle, or ILC, to the DFCM community:

  • Dr. Suzanne Shoush
  • Dr. Janet Smylie
  • Dr. Sarah Park
  • Dr. Joel Voth
  • Dr. Katherine Rouleau
  • Dr. Danielle Martin

More information about the terms of reference for the ILC will be shared in the coming weeks and months. The goal of this Circle is to truly embody the notion of “nothing about us without us” – leadership provided by Indigenous people on matters related to Indigenous health and self-governance within DFCM.

If this work is of interest to you, you can donate financially to support Indigenous health initiatives at DFCM. As we are all aware, there are significant health disparities for Indigenous people here in Toronto and across Canada due to the lasting and ongoing impacts of colonialism and systemic racism. The ILC will be undertaking work to advance reconciliation within our context, seeking to make our department more socially accountable to the First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples of our region. If you would like to pledge to donate, please visit our DFCM Indigenous Health Fund donation page. If you have any suggestions or questions about the work of the ILC, please email dfcm.globalhealth@utoronto.ca.

Finally – our department is charting the course for the future and WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!  Please take 10 minutes to complete our DFCM survey as part of our strategic planning. To learn more about the process, visit primarymatters.ca to read our What's at Stake document and find other resources and ways of getting involved.

The sun is shining as I write this. I hope you are able spend some time with your family and friends, and have time to yourself, to reset and recharge, during the too-short but wonderful summer months.

Warmly,

Danielle