STAY CONNECTED: Have the stories that matter most delivered every night to your email inbox. Subscribe to our daily local news wrap.
Dr. Chris Simpson presents the Canadian Medical Association Award for Young Leaders to Dr. Alika Lafontaine. Photo Credit: @Dr_ChrisSimpson Twitter account.
Becomes President in 2022

Dr. Lafontaine ready for new role as president-elect of Canadian Medical Association

Feb 27, 2021 | 7:00 AM

Grande Prairie physician Dr. Alika Lafontaine was voted to become the 2021 president-elect nominee of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) earlier this week.

By becoming the president-elect, Lafontaine is making history in Canada, as he becomes the first-ever Indigenous nominee for CMA president in its history. He also becomes the first nominee for CMA president of Pacific Islander descent.

The President of the CMA is a three-year position. For the first year, Lafontaine will be considered the president-elect. By August 2022, Dr. Lafontaine will become the president, and in 2023 he will serve as the past president of the CMA, where he will then hand the job over to a doctor in British Columbia.

The chance to apply to become the President of the CMA only comes up once every 13 years.

By 2022, Dr. Lafontaine will be the go-to person that doctors look to when it comes to finding ways to improve the health system.

He tells EverythingGP he was inspired to run for the position based on everything that’s gone on with the COVID-19 pandemic in the last year.

“I didn’t really have plans to run for this type of position long-term, but in the past year, I think we’ve all seen the effects that the pandemic has had on people that we work with and care about.”

“I’ve noticed over the past year that colleagues have really felt the weight of this pandemic. It’s been affecting their relationships, livelihoods, as well as their health and wellness. I really want to do something to help change that reality for physicians across Alberta, and more broadly across the country, and that’s what really brought me to participate in this election.”

Dr. Lafontaine ran on three main pillars during his campaign, the first being working on creating healthy working environments and creating opportunities for physicians to have the proper resources, mobility and employment opportunities where patients need them most.

The second pillar focuses on renewing the relationship between physicians, patients, health systems and government.

The third pillar he ran on is working to create a culturally safe health system, which is free of hostility and makes it healthier for everyone. That includes eliminating racism, sexism, ableism, classism and all other ‘-isms’ that permeate health system culture.

As for his reaction on becoming the first Indigenous president-elect nominee of the CMA, Dr. Lafontaine says it is an incredible honour.

“It was really special competing in this election with a colleague of mine, Dr. James Makokis, which was the other Indigenous candidate. There had never been any Indigenous candidate that has run before (2021), so that was really special,” said Lafontaine. “Now being the first Indigenous candidate to become president-elect and the first Pacific Islander to become president-elect is really special.”

“I feel that the faith they (the doctors) put into me to really amplify their voice when it comes to these issues is the really special part of this for me.”

While his new position will take on more duties and travel, Dr. Lafontaine says he has no plans on leaving the Swan City any time soon.

“We (my family) came here with a short-term plan like a lot of people in Grande Prairie. We fell in love with the area, the people and we ended up staying here longer than we had intended. It’s been a great adventure and we’re just really happy to be a part of this community.”

Dr. Lafontane came to Grande Prairie from Saskatchewan in 2011, when a job opportunity came up for him to practice as an Anesthesiologist at the Queen Elizabeth II Regional Hospital.

“We’ll probably do more travelling, but this will probably be home base,” he added. “This is where we’ve laid down roots, have friendships and connections.

“I’m planning to continue clinical practice here after I’m done (the presidency) and we’re hoping we’ll be able to manage all the travel and other things not just through flights but using other opportunities like connecting through Zoom and other things.”

Dr. Lafontaine is also very involved in helping Indigenous communities.

From 2013 to 2017, he co-led the Indigenous Health Alliance, a health transformation project involving 150 First Nations and several national health organizations. In 2018, the federal government allocated $68 million to Indigenous communities involved in the project.

He is also very involved in the healthcare community. Dr. Lafontaine holds various leadership positions in Alberta Health Services, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada.

In 2021, he was also listed on the Medical Post’s “Doctors with Sway,” a list of the top 30 most influential physicians in Canada based on peer feedback.