The Canadian Federation of Biological Societies held a Strategic Plan Meeting on Saturday, November 13, 1999 at the Lord Elgin Hotel, Ottawa, Ontario. Representatives from 14 societies were present as well as Mark Bisby from Medical Research Council, Norman Marcotte, Natural Sciences of Engineering Research Council, and Mark Graham, Canadian Museum of Nature. The participants provided insights and support for the activities of the Federation. The group was rounded out by members of the CFBS Executive. The meeting began at about 1:00 PM and continued for five hours.

The discussion focused on a draft document entitled "Strategic Plan" which was prepared and distributed to all those at the meeting well in advance of the session on Nov. 13. The overall tone of the discussion can be characterized as both frank and very constructive. It was the general feeling that we were able to identify major concerns that the Societies had regarding the Federation and at the same time were also able to suggest possible solutions to some of these. The Executive of CFBS believes strongly that the Societies' Presidents (and their executives) should attempt to develop with CFBS a joint vision of how the Federation should function. This meeting was a positive first step in this direction.

ADVOCACY:

One of the major results from the discussion was the unanimous support for CFBS to act as the voice of the Biological /biomedical sciences community in performing the ADVOCACY role for issues related to Research in the Life Sciences. At the same time comments were made that CFBS should improve its communication with its membership. A number of individuals felt that greater frequency of distribution of information to the membership would be helpful and in short "bulletin type" information which the members would feel inclined to read. This suggestion will be employed, therefore, in setting up our Newsletter. In establishing the Newsletter, advantage will be taken of the electronic medium and efforts will be made to make it as easy as possible for readers to obtain the information.

Besides frequent "bulletins" the participants indicated that in addition to listing the issues being discussed with the decision-makers and the feed-back we received, we should also try to develop a "score-card" of results. At the same time, it was recognized that positive results from discussions with MPs and senior officials did not occur over night but occurred after a sufficient number of decision-makers were convinced that an issue was of sufficient importance to be acted upon. Having the backing of the whole Biological/Biomedical Sciences community would aid greatly in this effort to obtain positive results since the same message would be articulated from one large "cohesive group".

CFBS will also attempt to "tailor-make" the visits to "decision-makers" more closely with the issues peculiar to each society. For example those Societies with greatest interest in "environmental issues" would focus on the ministries associated with David Anderson, Minister of Environment; while those more closely linked with "health" would meet with individuals in Allan Rock, Minister of Health, ministry. In these efforts we would ask for representatives from each of the Societies in these visits. At the same time CFBS would continue to form partnerships with other groups on issues of broad interest to the wider Research Community. What also emerged from the discussion is that without the Societies' firm endorsement and financial support CFBS' ADVOCACY role is in jeopardy!

CFBS ANNUAL MEETING:

After much debate, the participants also agreed that CFBS should continue to organize an Annual Meeting. It was recognized that the Meeting served a number of important and essential purposes. At the same time all the participants indicated that it should have a flexible format and that it should be much more responsive to the changing times and to the Societies' needs. In the development of a 2 Theme (in-depth) approach the June 22-24, 2000 Ottawa Meeting is an attempt to address one of the complaints, namely that there is insufficient depth (ie. number of symposia) in the topics selected for CFBS Meetings. This meeting takes advantage also of Canadian Researchers in Research Institutes and hopes to build on their involvement. Future CFBS meetings will take notice of the activities of the various Societies in scheduling future high quality meetings and solicit proposals from the Societies for suggestions. The operative words in the interactions between the Federation and the Societies are coordination and flexibility. Some of the positive reasons for an annual meeting include:

1. Providing a Presence on the National Stage for Canada's Biological Research Community.
2. A Forum to "Show-Case" the best in Canadian Science to which we can point when presenting arguments to decision-makers for research funds to reduce the "Brain-drain".
3. Providing a welcoming venue for graduate students to interact with outstanding researchers and recognize the high quality of Biological Sciences/Scientists in Canada. Greater effort needs to be expended in this area.
4. Providing support for CFBS' ADVOCACY role since only ~ one-half of the revenue required to support the National CFBS office currently comes from the society levies.
5. Providing a Forum for information and the discussion of important biological/biomedical issues of concern to the general public.
6. Recognizing publicly outstanding Canadian scientists.