A Word From Our President

Dear Resident Doctors of British Columbia members,

It is an honour to be writing to you as President of RDBC from the occupied and unceded territories of the əlilwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Sḵwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and xʷməθkʷəyəm (Musqueam) Nations.

When I started residency, I did not anticipate that working with RDBC would become such a large and meaningful part of my residency career. I ran for the board in my first year of residency with the goal of learning about our Collective Agreement, becoming part of Collective Bargaining, and representing the voices of distributed residents. In my second term on the board, I had the privilege to join the executive and work as the Director of Labour and External Relations and the Lead resident on the negotiations committee. Invigorated by the Collective Bargaining process I was motivated to continue this work and stand here humbly as your President for the 2023/2024 academic year. I am joined by a dedicated executive and board of directors you can read about here, as well as a RDBC staff that are the fiercest advocates for resident wellness that I have seen.

My goals as president are to continue the incremental improvements started with the current collective agreement for resident financial wellness and protections of personal time and ensure RDBC works tirelessly to protect all language in the collective agreement that we have fought so hard for. To achieve these goals, we have several new and invigorated committees with PGME and our employer representative HEABC. These committees allow for direct communication with the actors that can right systematic overscheduling and programs not following the collective agreement. Further, we are working on standardizing scheduling processes across programs to ensure RDBC can act on improper schedules before they effect resident lives. To achieve this goal RDBC also needs help from the membership. Without knowledge of what injustices residents are facing we cannot act to right them. We encourage you to reach out about CA violations, whether they be about call scheduling, denial of post-call days or your third vacation request, or failure to provide adequate OH&S protections at the clinical sites. There are many avenues to speak out, including your Council of Program Representative found here, submitting your overscheduled call for payment, directly to RDBC staff at info@residentdoctorsbc.ca, or directly to myself at president@residentdoctorsbc.ca

Through this work we will ensure that our Collective Agreement is protected, and that we can achieve the best future agreement for our members. It has been a pleasure and honor to serve in this position on your behalf. Please do not hesitate to reach out in any capacity.

Dr. Harry Anzinger, MD President of Resident Doctors of BC