Fall 2025 Board Meeting Highlights

Annual General Meeting

Over 800 members registered for the 2025 virtual AGM.

CDHA’s president, Alexandra Sheppard, encouraged members to download the full Annual Report to see all of CDHA’s achievements for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.

Financial Statements and Appointment of Auditor

The Audit Committee Chair, Nicole Mainville, presented the audited financial statements for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. The Frouin Group was appointed as the auditor for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.

CDHA’s Board of Directors

There were five Directors who finished their term:

Cindy Holden
Newfoundland & Labrador

Kathy Yerex
Manitoba

Tracy Bowser
North

Kaylen Anholt
Saskatchewan

Francine Trudeau
Quebec

There were four new Directors who started their term:

Kaleigh Warden
Manitoba

Lori Martin
Newfoundland & Labrador

Rebecca Pollock
North (YT, NWT, NU)

Tara Tait
Saskatchewan

CDHA Board of Directors

The presentation of the CDHA Board of Directors for 2025-2026:

Back Row (left to right): Nicole Mainville – New Brunswick; Paulette Dahlseide – Alberta; Rebecca Pollock – North; Bev Woods – Ontario; Kaleigh Warden – Manitoba; Lori Martin – Newfoundland and Labrador; Tara Tait – Saskatchewan
Front row: (left to right): Tayyaba Fiaz – Quebec; Wendy Wells – Nova Scotia and president-elect; Donna Lee – British Columbia and president; Alexandra Sheppard – Alberta & immediate past president; Heather Cassidy – Prince Edward Island

CDHA thanked and recognized outgoing president, Alexandra Sheppard.

Donna Lee, from British Columbia was introduced as the CDHA president for the 2025-2026 year.

2025 Awards

CDHA recognized the 2025 award winners:
Award of Merit:

Lezah Evan

Laura Iorio

25-Year Member Recognition

CDHA honoured our loyal, longstanding members. A total of 239 members were recognized this year for having maintained membership in the Association for 25 years.

CDHA Partner’s Circle

CDHA's Partners' Circle is comprised of dental industry firms dedicated to the advancement of the dental hygiene profession and who recognize the important role that dental hygienists play in the oral health care team. CDHA acknowledged these highly valued and long-standing partners of CDHA:

CDHA Board of Directors Meeting
October 15-16, 2025 - Toronto

The in-person Fall meeting of the CDHA Board of Directors was held on the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. She also acknowledged that Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit. CDHA’s Board recognizes the long history of First Nations and Métis peoples in Ontario. It was noted that, from the beginning, this land has been inhabited by the Indigenous Peoples who were stewards of this place.  As settlers, we're grateful for the opportunity to meet here, and we thank all the generations of people who have taken care of this land for thousands of years.  The board offered this land acknowledgment as an intentional and thoughtful way to thank those upon whose land we reside and noted that this acknowledgment should not serve as closure, resignation, or acceptance of the past or present but should remind us of the true history of this country and provoke thoughtful reflection, conversation, and lasting change.

The board welcomed Sgt. Cheryl Hopkins, RDH, as an observer from Canada’s military.

Key highlights from the Board meeting included:

• Board directors are the fiduciaries who steer CDHA towards a sustainable future by adopting sound, ethical, and legal governance and financial management policies and ensuring we have adequate resources to advance our mission. This was informed by the CEO’s presentation on an environmental scan and an update on the strategic plan, as they support the Board's Ends (goals).
• The Board held a strategic discussion on CDHA’s End: Professional Knowledge.
• President’s reports were reviewed by both the 2024-2025 president, Alexandra Sheppard and the 2025-2026 president, Donna Lee.
• Francine Trudeau, as the outgoing OL Committee Chair, provided a written report which the Board reviewed.
• The Board directs, controls, and inspires CDHA through the careful establishment of broad written policies reflecting the Board's values and perspectives. Thus, one of the key roles of the Board is to monitor and assess Board policies and executive limitations at each Board meeting. The Board reviewed and accepted the CEO Monitoring Reports and reviewed and made a slight amendment to the Governance Process policies. The Board also amended the monitoring schedule for some CEO and Board Monitoring policies.
• The board reviewed the report from the current IFDH delegates, Francine Trudeau and Tayyaba Fiaz.
• The CDHA Board elected two new representatives to the International Federation of Dental Hygienists (IFDH)- Donna Lee and Bev Woods.
• The Chair of the Audit Committee, Nicole Mainville, presented an Audit Committee report.
• The Board appointed committee members for all of CDHA Board committees and elected Heather Cassidy as Chair of the Audit Committee.
• The board received an in-person presentation from Sgt. Cheryl Hopkins on the current state of dental hygiene in the Royal Canadian Dental Corps.
• The board received an in-person presentation from the Federation of Dental Hygiene Regulators of Canada (FDHRC) by Kieran Jordan, CEO.
• The board received an in-person presentation from the Commission of Dental Accreditation of Canada (CDAC) by Dawn Wilson, CEO.
• The Board chose the consultant to lead the dental hygiene profession in creating a Reconciliation Action Plan for dental hygiene in Canada. The plan will promote culturally safe, respectful, and inclusive practices that enhance Indigenous Peoples' oral health and well-being.

Executive Director’s meeting

Provincial executive directors (and presidents in provinces without an executive director) and the CDHA CEO met on October 16 in Toronto. Very productive discussions were had on the dental hygiene workforce, advocacy priorities, and misinformation/disinformation.

Provincial President’s Meeting

Provincial presidents, executive directors, and the CDHA board of directors met in Toronto, in conjunction with CDHA’s Leadership Development Symposium. Each province and CDHA provided advocacy updates, and we briefly discussed opportunities for collaboration.

June 18, 2025, meeting highlights:

The board was presented with the 2025-2026 budget, including an overview of CDHA’s multi-year financial plan. The Board approved the budget as presented, which includes a strategic deficit of $286,528. The board also approved:

• moving $123,000 from the strategic initiatives fund to support four key strategic projects: position paper, job market and employment survey, public perception survey, and national NDHW TV campaign;
• moving $20,000 from the technology fund to support CDHA’s work on a new Association Management System (AMS); and
• moving $5,000 from the Building Fund to support an office window replacement and a reconstruction appraisal.

Board Awards

CDHA celebrates exceptional volunteer service through its award program, recognizing members who have made outstanding contributions to the dental hygiene profession, either in their communities or nationally through the association.

The Board approved the following award recipients:

• Lezah Evan – Award of Merit
• Laura Iorio – Award of Merit
• Mary Bertone – Distinguished Service Award

July 8, 2025, meeting highlights:

The CDHA president held a special meeting on July 8 to de-brief the Board on the Town Hall that she hosted on June 23 with members from (primarily) Alberta. The Board agreed to send a letter to the College of Dentists of Alberta (CDAB) highlighting CDHA’s concerns and other concerns raised by participants at the Town Hall about the CDAB Pilot Program for Internationally Trained Dentists. The CDHA board reaffirmed its stance regarding allowing internationally trained dentists who are not yet licensed in Canada to practice dental hygiene without meeting established educational and regulatory standards. In the interest of protecting the public and ensuring quality care, maintaining strong professional standards, and recognizing the specialized role and scope of dental hygienists as essential health care providers, CDHA unequivocally opposes such proposals.

July 30, 2025 meeting highlights:

Finance

• One of the key roles of a Board of Directors is its fiduciary responsibility. The Board received a report from the audit committee and met with CDHA’s auditor to review the audited financial statements for 2024-2025.
• The Board accepted the Auditor’s External Monitoring Report as presented, which validates that the financial affairs of CDHA meet the auditor’s standards for financial management as required in Board policy.

Policy

• The Board reviewed organizational performance to ensure compliance with its existing Ends and Executive Limitations policies. (The Board directs, controls, and inspires CDHA through the careful establishment of broad written policies reflecting the Board's values and perspectives. Thus, one of the key roles of the Board is monitoring and assessing Board policies and executive limitations at each Board meeting.)

Board work

The board approved a Request for Proposal (RFP) for an individual(s) to lead the dental hygiene profession in developing a Reconciliation Action Plan for the profession of dental hygiene in Canada. The Plan will support culturally safe, respectful, and inclusive practices that support Indigenous Peoples' oral health and well-being.

The Board approved an updated constituent agreement with the British Columbia Dental Hygienists Association (BCDHA).