This consultation closed on Jan. 11, 2023.
About the standard
On May 31, 2022, Health Professions (Protecting Women and Girls) Amendment Act, 2022 (formerly Bill 10) received royal assent and came into effect. The amendment requires regulatory colleges in Alberta, including CPSA, to adopt a standard of practice that addresses female genital mutilation by their members. To respond to this amendment, CPSA drafted the Female Genital Mutilation standard of practice. The standard:
- Clearly indicates regulated members convicted of performing or facilitating female genital mutilation will be removed from practice;
- Ensures those convicted of this crime in other jurisdictions will not be permitted to practise in Alberta; and
- Requires regulated members to provide support for better physical and mental healthcare to women and girls who have undergone or are at risk of undergoing female genital mutilation.
Your opinion matters
Changes to CPSA’s Standards of Practice impact your day-to-day practice. Your feedback is important to us as it helps us develop clear, reasonable expectations and helpful, applicable resources. We appreciate the time you took and the input you provided.
CPSA members, partner organizations, other healthcare professionals and Albertans were invited to provide feedback on this consultation from Dec. 12, 2022 to Jan. 11, 2023.
Anonymized feedback will be considered by Council at their February meeting. Once amendments are finalized and approved by Council, members will be notified by email and The Messenger newsletter.
We respect your privacy
All feedback is subject to CPSA’s Privacy Statement. CPSA reviews all comments before publication to ensure there is no offensive language, personal attacks or unsubstantiated allegations.
Other feedback on this standard
As with most guidelines about female genital mutilation the definition of reinfibulation concerns me. Often after delivery there is tearing or episiotomy to facilitate childbirth. Repairing this could be defined as reinfibulation though the purpose of repair is to restore anatomy and promote healing. My fear is that just by repairing the tear and or episiotomy I may be accused of reinfibulating.
It is reasonable to protect Alberta women and girls from Female Genital Mutilation. Will this principle be applied to those promoting bottom surgery in females under 18-years-old, who "feel" that they are a man in a women's body? Should this also be applied to top surgery in females under 18-years-old, still working out gender and sexuality issues and not yet being a consenting adult? FGM is wrong, but genital mutilation in teenagers for other reasons is not? We need to be ethically consistent. No mutilation until one is a consenting adult following informed consent. And then, should the general public be funding this as being medically necessary? Or is it a cosmetic choice that is not entirely without significant complications much like FGM, that is clearly medically inappropriate.