Board Meeting Highlights
The Canadian Dental Hygienists Association (CDHA) hosted our third virtual Annual General Meeting on October 22, 2022. The CDHA Board of Directors also met in person September 28-29, 2022, at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre in Whitehorse, Yukon. This was followed by a meeting with the CDHA Board, Provincial presidents/executive directors/representatives from all provinces and territories.
Key highlights from these meetings include the following:
Annual General Meeting
1,375 members registered for the 2022 virtual AGM.
CDHA’s president, Wendy Stewart, introduced a highlights video that showcased the highlights of the 2021-2022 fiscal year and encouraged members to download CDHA’s annual report.
Financial Statements and Appointment of Auditor
The chair of the audit committee, Kathy Yerex, presented the 2021-2022 audited financial statements. KPMG was appointed as auditor for 2022-2023.
CDHA’s Board of Directors
Tiffany Ludwicki, Past President (President 2020-21) and Director from Newfoundland and Labrador finished her term on the board in February 2022. Jennifer Turner, Director from Ontario, served on the Board from Oct 2021-March 2022. Donna Lee completed two years of her term as Director from the North. Lana Clow, director from PEI and Rae McFarlane, director from British Columbia completed their term on the board.
Tiffany Ludwicki
Outgoing Past-President
Newfoundland & Labrador
Jennifer Turner
Outgoing Director
Ontario
Lana Clow
Outgoing Director
Prince Edward Island
Rae MacFarlane
Outgoing Director
British Columbia
Donna Lee
Outgoing Director
North
CDHA welcomed five new Directors, Heather Cassidy (Prince Edward Island), Cindy Holden (Newfoundland & Labrador) Bev Woods (Ontario) and Tracy Bowser (North), and Donna Lee (British Columbia).
Heather Cassidy
Director
Prince Edward Island
Cindy Holden
Director
Newfoundland & Labrador
Bev Woods
Director
Ontario
Tracy Bowser
Director
North
Donna Lee
Director
British Columbia
CDHA Board of Directors
The presentation of the CDHA Board of Directors for 2021-2022:
Front Row (left to right): Wendy Stewart – Nova Scotia & Immediate Past President; Anne Caissie – New Brunswick & President; Francine Trudeau – Quebec and President-Elect
Back row: (left to right): Kathy Yerex – Manitoba; Bev Woods – Ontario; Tracy Bowser – North; Cindy Holden – Newfoundland and Labrador; Heather Cassidy – Prince Edward Island; Alexandra Sheppard – Alberta; Kaylen Anholt – Saskatchewan; Donna Lee – British Columbia
2022 Awards
CDHA recognized 2022 award winners.
Canada’s 2022 Dental Hygiene Superhero
Jadina Yip, British Columbia
Honourable Mentions: Laura Iorio, Ontario and Elizabeth Jones, British Columbia
Oh Canada! Readers’ Choice Award
Jennifer Scott - Promoting cultural competency through Indigenous art and dialogue (Summer 2021)
CJDH Research & Writing Awards
Best Original Research Article (Volume 55):
Iris Lin, Denise M Laronde, Lewei Zhang, Miriam P Rosin, Ilena Yim, and Leigha D Rock
Best Literature Review (Volume 55):
Kelsey Henneberry, Shannon Hilland, and S Kimberly Haslam
CJDH Student Essay Award: sponsored by Philips Sonicare
Jessica Tamrat (UBC)
Sijie (Jessie) Yang (Dalhousie)
Board Awards
Congratulations to the 2022 Distinguished Service Award winner
Zul Kanji
Congratulations to the 2022 Award of Merit winners
Dean Lefebvre
Janice Ritchie
Mary Findlay
Noreen Ocampo
25-Year Member Recognition
CDHA honoured our loyal, longstanding members. A total of 216 members were recognized this year for having maintained membership in the Association for 25 years.
Franky & Melanie Adriao
Tonya Anton
Collette Areseneault
Sandra Auw
Julie Biro
Kiran Bove
Lisa Bow
Sharon Brooks-Wallace
Ginette Davediuk
Cori Dorschied
Stephanie Ellis
Leanna Enstrom
Rishma Esmail
Irene Fejes Smith
Nadia Fiacco
Dianne Gora
Heather Gould
Diane Grzela-Dupuis
Cindy Holden
Dana King
Sasha Kurpjuweit
Caroline Lotz
Nicole Julie Mainville
Monica Maione
Teresa Macchione Manserra
Glenys Matthews
Cheryl McGrail-Sinclair
Patty Murphy-Wade
France Paquette
Maranda Rampersaud
Diana Scott
Elizabeth Scott
Teresa Semren
Lisa Shewchuk
Jennifer Skutnik-Stewart
Georgina Stevenson
Sharon Stratton
Lori Terfry
Sonya Wallace-DiFranco
Cilla Watkins
Tracey Wingert
Ming Woo
Alison Wood
- Heather Pryde
- Evelyn Raha
- Connie Raymer
- Carmela Rocha
- Joanne Rogala
- Stephanie Rondeau
- Corrie Ross
- Jodie Rusnak
- Harpreet Sachdev
- Karen Salton
- Robert Sampson
- Elizabeth Scornaienchi
- Trina Seca
- Anne Sedore
- Claude Seguin
- Daniel Sereda
- Diane Shier
- Judith Simonson
- Heather Sirkovsky
- Tina Skliros
- Jennifer Slezak
- Mary Spedaliere
- Jodi Sperling
- Pamela Steed
- Sara Stiefelmeyer
- Janice Stratton
- Kimberly Thompson
- Joan Todd
- Susan Van Dyke
- Eleni Vassiliou
- Janine Vernon
- Cindy Walerowich
- Kellie Wallace
- Laura Waller
- Magdalena Waltar
- Nicole Warin
- Tricia Weber
- Barbara White
- Donna White
- Lorna Wiebe
- Theresa Williamson
- Tammy Wilson
- Tina Wright
- Jillian Yabsley
- Katharine Yu
- Liana Zangrilli-Cordeau
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 thanked outgoing president Wendy Stewart.
Anne Caissie, Director from New Brunswick, was elected as President of CDHA for the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
Members were encouraged to Save the Date for our next Summit in Winnipeg, Manitoba October 20-21, 2023.
CDHA Board of Directors Meeting
September 28-29, 2022
The Fall meeting of the CDHA Board of Directors was held on the traditional territory of the Kwanlin Dun First Nation and the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council.
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, as well as ensuring we have adequate resources to advance our mission. This was informed through the CEO’s presentation on an environmental scan and an update on the strategic plan, as they support the Board Ends (goals).
- The Board Awards Committee working group Chair, Lana Clow, presented the committee report.
- The Chair of the Audit Committee, Kathy Yerex, presented an Audit Committee report.
- The Chair of the Ownership Linkage Committee, Alexandra Sheppard, presented a report. This included an outline of the Ownership Linkage Activity scheduled for the Summit in Whitehorse, the provincial president’s meeting, and a review of the President’s calendar.
- The Board had a discussion on the terminology CDHA should use when referring residents of Canada receiving dental hygiene services. Patient, client, and other options were discussed. The board decided to conduct further research and survey members and experts about what terminology is currently in use and what would be the preferred terminology.
- 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. The Board reviewed and accepted the CEO Monitoring Reports and Governance Process policies.
- The CDHA Board has two representatives to the International Federation of Dental Hygienists (IFDH)- Alexandra Sheppard and Wendy Stewart. The board reviewed the reports from the IFDH delegates.
- The Board had a discussion on sustainability in dental care/oral care.
- To ensure clarify, the board approved changing the name of Past President to Immediate Past President, as there are many Past Presidents of CDHA and only the Immediate Past President serves on the Board.
- The board welcomed Shafana Mitha, a Canadian Certified Inclusion Professional, to provide board education on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
- President-elect, Anne Caissie, recognized the many contributions of outgoing President, Wendy Stewart.
Provincial President’s Meeting
With the growth in dental corporations in Canada, CDHA’s board expressed an interest in learning more about dental corporations. The largest dental corporation in Canada is dentacorp. Guy Amini, President of dentacorps, joined the CDHA board, provincial presidents, executive directors and representatives from all provinces and territories in Canada, to present an overview of corporate denistry in Canada and responded to numerous questions.
This presentation was followed by updates from CDHA and each province and territory.