SMA History
Timeline
August 1905: The Saskatchewan Medical Association is launched under the leadership of Dr. Maurice Macdonald Seymour, the Saskatchewan Commissioner of Public Health.
1933: The SMA is organized under the Societies Act of Saskatchewan.
1936: A special legislative committee recommends the SMA be merged with the Council of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, with the new organization to be called the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan, and a mandate to transact all business on behalf of the medical profession.
September 1936: The SMA ceases to exist.
1950s: Growing feeling that the College of Physicians and Surgeons should restrict its activities to registration, licencing, and discipline and that matters pertaining to economics, education, professional welfare and negotiations with outside bodies should be done by a separate body.
1961-1962: Medicare crisis in Saskatchewan.
January 1963: The Council of the College of Physicians and Surgeons appoints a Board of the Saskatchewan Division of the C.M.A. to act as a committee of Council.
May 1965: The Central Health Services Committee, which was appointed by Council, recommends that Council investigate the formal separation of the Saskatchewan Division of the C.M.A. from the College with a clear distinction of their respective functions.
February 1966: The Board of the Saskatchewan Division concludes that there should be a body more representative of the District Medical Societies. The Committee is disbanded and replaced by an Advisory Committee of District Representatives. The Board begins to use the name Saskatchewan Medical Association.
September/October 1966: Dr M.A. Baltzan, Chairman of the Board, and the newly appointed Executive Secretary, Dr. E.H. Baergen visit the District Medical Societies to explain the plans for re-organization.
October 1966: The Annual Meeting of the College of Physicians and Surgeons unanimously adopts a resolution to proceed with establishing the SMA as an independent body.
1966-1967: Physicians are asked to sign a petition requesting that the provincial government re-establish the SMA.
April 1967: The first Representative Assembly is elected and meet for the first time in Regina. The first elected president of the revised SMA is Dr. M.A. Baltzan.
1968: The Council negotiates the first revision of the Payment Schedule with the provincial government.
1967 – 1972: The SMA functions under a budgetary grant from the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
1972: Newly elected NDP government amends The Medical Profession Act to prohibit the College of Physicians and Surgeons from collecting dues on behalf of the SMA.
1972: The SMA was incorporated under The Societies Act.
1981: The SMA continued to function as a corporation after the Non-Profit Corporations Act came into effect.
1986: Legislation is adopted to allow the SMA to collect 75% of the dues for non-member fee-for-service physicians.
1996: SMA begins collecting dues from non-members working under contract and salaried arrangements.
The demands placed upon the SMA by its members and by the various agencies with which it interacts have increased steadily over the years. When it began in 1967, the SMA had a staff of three. Today, 50 people manage various beneficial programs for our membership. As the health and medical care environment continues to change, the SMA will continue to change with it. History has shown that the SMA is a resilient body.
Pictured right: 1968 SMA Board of Directors
