Vision and Mission of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA)
The CPA was organized in 1939 and incorporated under the Canada Corporations Act, Part II, in May 1950. The CPA received its Certificate of Continuance under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (NFP Act) in August 2013.
Vision: The CPA envisions a society that values and applies psychological science for the benefit of persons, communities, organizations, and peoples.
Mission: We will serve the public and the CPA’s membership by advancing psychological science, practice, and education through research, advocacy, and collaboration.
2025-2030 CPA Strategic Plan
To ensure the CPA is meeting its mission and responsibilities, the CPA is guided by a strategic plan that sets out clear goals, objectives, and activities, as well as guiding and operating principles, for 2025 – 2030.
The CPA’s 2025-2030 Strategic Plan is our roadmap for how we will thrive as an association. This will, in turn, allow us to support our profession and discipline to benefit persons, communities, organizations, and peoples. The Strategic Plan continues to be grounded in the premise that the science, practice, and education of psychology has broad and deep relevance to public policy and the public good.
Over the next five years, through our operating and guiding principles, ethical values, policies, and activities, we will maintain our focus on being the national voice and a thought leader for psychology. We are committed to ensuring that our initiatives are inspired by our deep-seated commitment to advancing psychological science, practice, and education through research, advocacy, and collaboration, while strengthening our commitment to both the inclusion of historically under-represented and marginalized groups, and our accountability to reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples through our responses to calls to action and justice.
STRATEGIC PRIORITIES
We will achieve our mission through activities supporting five strategic priorities. We will:
- be the national voice and thought leader for psychology.
- advocate for the role, need, and contribution of psychology to improve our health, social, and economic well-being.
- promote psychology’s value, unique role, and impact to the public.
- support, promote, and grow a profession, discipline, and association that is diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible.
- foster a profession, discipline, and association that, using calls to action and justice, supports Indigenous knowledge and practices, and is accountable to reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.
Click on the following links to view the CPA’s 2025-2030 Strategic Plan and updated Operating and Guiding Principles.
How the CPA Works and Who to Contact for What at Head OfficeThe Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) is the national association for the science, practice and education of psychology in Canada. With over 7,000 members and affiliates, the CPA is Canada’s largest association for psychology. The vision, policy and priorities for the CPA are established by its Board of Directors in accordance with the CPA’s Strategic Plan. Board of Directors are elected from among the CPA membership; Presidential Officers are elected from amongst the CPA Board of Directors. The respective Board of Directors representing Practice, Science and Education sit on each of the CPA’s three pillar committees (Professional Affairs, Scientific Affairs, Education and Training). Two of the Board of Director seats are reserved for a representative of the CPA’s Student Section and another for a representative of the Council of the CPA’s Sections. Three of the seats are reserved for Directors-at-Large. Four of the Board of Director seats are held by representatives from the CPA’s partner organizations (Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour and Cognitive Science, Council of Professional Associations of Psychologists, Canadian Council of Professional Psychology Programs, Council of Canadian Departments of Psychology). A listing of the names and portfolios of the CPA’s Board of Directors can be found by clicking here (https://cpa.ca/aboutcpa/boardofdirectors/). As needed, the CPA’s Board of Directors convenes Working Groups to explore various issues affecting the science, practice and education of psychology; click here (https://cpa.ca/aboutcpa/committees/cpataskforces/ to see the list of current and past working groups/task forces along with their final reports to the board. The CPA’s work is also guided by a number of board and management led committees; click here (https://cpa.ca/aboutcpa/committees/) to see a list of the CPA’s current committees. Updates on the work of the CPA’s Committees and Working Groups are included in the CPA’s annual report (https://cpa.ca/aboutcpa/annualgeneralmeetingsandreports/). A review of the CPA’s work, as per the Strategic Plan, is also provided on an annual basis to the CPA’s membership at the annual general meeting; all members and affiliates are welcome to attend the annual meeting although only full members can vote at the annual meeting. Click here for more information. Responsibility for the operations of the CPA rests with its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and through the CEO, with the CPA’s Head Office staff. A listing of the CPA staff, their titles and coordinates can be found on our Contact Us page.
Members of the public commonly contact the CPA with questions about psychological disorders (see Psychology Works Fact Sheets), the study, practice and licensing of psychologists, how to get a referral to a psychologist, and what to expect when seeing a psychologist. Answers to these questions are often answered by information found on the public pages of our website. If your question is not answered there, please contact CPA’s Operations Assistant for further assistance. |