Development of the Organization
The Canadian Association of Provincial Cancer Agencies (CAPCA) was initiated approximately twenty-five years ago with agencies coming together and realizing the need for a forum to discuss common issues and developments. Starting with the western provinces, then throughout the 1980's, the remaining provinces participated in loosely structured annual meetings. These meetings were for the purposes of information sharing, education, workload data sharing, collaboration with national partners and evolving into policy setting.
Recognizing that the association could contribute even more to the development of cancer control in Canada it decided to become more formal, establish a mission and goals and define a board and policy setting structure. In 1999 under the Canada Corporations Act, CAPCA became a formal inter-provincial organization with a constitution and bylaws. It established a national board consisting of fourteen members, which includes the chief executive officers of each of the provincial cancer agencies plus three trustees drawn from provincial cancer agency boards and a representative from the Canadian Cancer Society.