Notice of CFBS Closure

Based on the wishes of the CFBS member societies, the CFBS Board decided in May 2008 to discontinue the annual CFBS scientific conferences beyond the current year. The conference had generated revenue that helped to offset the costs of the CFBS office. Since the number of societies within the Federation had also declined over the last two years, the financial situation was such that the CFBS was no longer in a position to maintain operations beyond 2008.

At the CFBS Board and Annual General Meeting held in Winnipeg on June 19, 2008, those present were informed of the status of membership and the financial situation of the Federation. The Minutes of the June 19 meeting are linked for your information. 76th Board of Directors Meeting Minutes in PDF Format As you will see from the Minutes, two motions were put forward and adopted.

1. That CFBS will shut down its operations by December 31, 2008.
   
2. That CFBS will facilitate a meeting of Canadian life science societies to design a new voice to advocate for life science research in Canada.

Twenty-two societies came together on October 4, 2008 at a meeting to explore the need for a collective voice for life science research and articulate the preferred future for advocacy. Please refer to the October 4, 2008, Life Science Societies Meeting Report for more information. The recommendations from the meeting were to:

1. Establish a Council, called Life Sciences Canada, composed of representatives from interested societies
   
2. Council to elect an executive of 5-6 people
   
3. Council to have a virtual meeting (via teleconference) annually to discuss issues, priorities and actions
   
4. Create a business plan
   
5. Establish costs and raise funds
   
6. Establish a secretariat

Each society represented at the October 4 meeting was to discuss the recommendations from the meeting, their interest in forming the new Council and in having a teleconference to discuss next steps before the closure of CFBS at the end of December. Representatives of twelve societies participated in the follow-up teleconference on December 10, 2008, chaired by Dr. Richard Hughson, Executive Director of the Canadian Society of Exercise physiology (CSEP). This virtual Council appointed a committee of four people, from a spectrum of represented life science societies, to develop a mission and a business plan for the proposed Life Science Canada. The Committee will work together electronically and will give monthly updates to the members of the Virtual Council.

CFBS has now fulfilled its obligations and will be closing the office effective December 31, 2008. The website will also be shut down at that time.

We wish the new virtual Council and the Committee success in creating an effective voice for the life sciences research community.

The Canadian Federation of Biological Societies is a research consortium representing Canadian Biological and Biomedical professional associations.

The Federation was founded in 1957 to promote the acquisition, facilitate the dissemination and encourage the utilization of knowledge in the Biomedical/Life Sciences.

CFBS membership is composed of researchers from university, government and industrial laboratories.

Our goal is to work towards developing a forward-looking science and technology policy that will enable Canada to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

• communicate the benefits of the biological /biomedical research to the political "decision-makers", increase public awareness of the life sciences in Canada;
• organize major scientific conference(s) each year, and
• act as a secretarait for societies when requested.

• Support about half of the annual CFBS budget.
  
• Allow your voice and concerns to be heard at various levels of government and granting agencies.
  
• Make you eligible for discounted registration rates at CFBS Scientific Conferences.
  
• Make student members eligible for CFBS' & Societies' travel awards.