Finding Our Identity: Belonging & Becoming
Ottawa, ON | November 6th-8th, 2026
Come engage in topics of medical ethics and explore what it means to be human in a convivial atmosphere of professionals from across Canada.
Conference open to students and professionals in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and midwifery and to other leaders working to promote life-affirming healthcare.
Scholarships available for medical students and residents.
Scholarships for Medical Students and Residents
Scholarship covers conference fees, hotel and a travel stipend
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Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this conference, participants will be able to:
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1. Articulate the physician's profession as healer and why this role is foundational to professional integrity, patient trust, and medicine as an ethical enterprise.
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2. Evaluate how the conviction that identity is formed and restored through encounter rather than possessed in isolation, reorients person-centered care, the meaning of patient autonomy, and the physician's loyalty to the patient in matters of informed consent, right to refuse treatment, and self-advocacy.
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3. Analyze how the recognition of personhood structures the care owed to patients at the margins of medical and social recognition and assess the clinical and relational obligations that follow.
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4. Explain the legal architecture of Canada's MAID framework, including the Charter rights as interpreted in Carter and Truchon, the provincial oversight structures, and the international human rights instruments that impose a positive duty to protect vulnerable persons.
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5. Apply clinical judgment to complex clinical scenarios formulating reasoned and defensible courses of action while attending to the moral distress such cases exact.
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6. Discuss the communication and intellectual approaches by which physicians can advance health equity and support vulnerable and marginalized patient populations
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7. Examine the challenges of clinical deskilling in an age of artificial intelligence and evaluate why professional judgment is not a computable function. Distinguish AI decision support in clinical reasoning and defend the physician's answerability for clinical decisions as itself formative for the physician.
Conference Details
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Christopher Lisanti, MD
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Friday, November 6th | 8 p.m.
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Quentin Genuis, MD
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Saturday, November 7th | 9:00 a.m.
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Cara Buskmiller, MD
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Saturday, November 7th | 10:45 a.m.
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PANEL: Sephora Tang, MD | Espérance Kashala-Abotnes, MD, PhD | Natasha Fernandes, MD
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Saturday, November 7th | 1:00 p.m.
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PANEL: Jeremy Bannon, MD, MA | Will Johnston, MD | Kiely Williams, MD
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Saturday, November 7th | 2:45 p.m.
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Saturday, November 7th | Reception at 6:00 p.m. - Dinner and Evening Program at 7:00 p.m.
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CPL Conference 2026
- 22 lessons
Speakers and Panelists
Assistant Professor, Radiology | Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Christopher Lisanti, MD
Dr. Christopher Lisanti is a diagnostic radiologist at Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas and assistant professor of radiology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. He has been active in the pro-life pregnancy center movement since 2010 and serves as the medical director for the Pregnancy Care Center in San Antonio. He interprets 2,000 obstetric ultrasounds annually for four centers and serves on the Care Net medical advisory board. Dr. Lisanti has also written and spoken on the philosophy of medicine and human flourishing including his podcast “Roots of Flourishing.” A strong advocate for traditional medicine and ethics, he serves as the senior faculty advisor for the Hippocratic Society at Brooke Army Medical Center where virtues and fundamental concepts are discussed and promoted through small groups and didactic lectures.
Maternal-Fetal Medicine Physician Cara Buskmiller, MD, MA
Dr. Buskmiller is a board-certified maternal-fetal medicine physician caring for high risk pregnancies due to fetal concerns and offering fetal surgery at Texas Children's Hospital Austin. Her research interests focus on device innovation in fetal surgery, ethics of high risk pregnancy, surgery in ectopic pregnancy, as well as the psychological aspects of high risk pregnancy and pregnancy loss. Her clinical focus is on fetal diagnosis, fetal surgery, and perinatal palliative care. She has a masters degree in ethics and contributes to Catholic bioethical literature and has forty peer-reviewed clinical publications. She founded Conscience in Residency, a non-profit dedicated to coaching medical students and residents through ways to follow their beliefs during medical training despite ethical challenges at work, and has served on the boards of the American Association of Pro-Life OB/GYNs and collaborated in the past with the National Catholic Bioethics Center and Students for Life International.
Emergency Physician and Physician Ethicist Quentin Genuis, MD
Dr. Quentin Genuis is an emergency physician at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, Canada. He serves as the physician ethicist for Providence Health Care, where he is involved in ethics consultations, education, and research. He holds a master’s degree from the School of Divinity at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. He is a Sessional Faculty and the Professional in Residence at Regent College in Vancouver, where he teaches on topics including medical ethics and addiction. He has published peer-reviewed articles in both science and bioethics fields, and is the author of his first book, Recovering People: Addiction, Personhood, and the Life of the Church.
Quentin loves teaching in a variety of academic, church, and clinical settings on topics including human freedom and agency, death and dying, theology of the body, virtue ethics, compassion, dignity, and care of persons with addictions. In his spare time, he loves growing dahlias and pole beans, reading fiction, and visiting the Farmers’ market with his family.
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry Sephora Tang, MD
Dr. Sephora Tang completed a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology at the University of New Brunswick before completing her doctorate in medicine and postgraduate residency training in psychiatry at the University of Ottawa. She is a staff psychiatrist in the outpatient mental health department of the Ottawa Hospital where she also leads a Working with Emotions Group that teaches skills based on Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT). She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Ottawa where she supervises and teaches psychiatry residents and medical students. She served as the Postgraduate Site Education Director at the Ottawa Hospital General Campus for three years before stepping into the role of Program Director of the Psychiatry Residency Training Program at the University of Ottawa in February 2023. Her clinical interests include combining psychopharmacology with the art of psychotherapy and has interests in understanding the neurobiology and treatment of patients with complex trauma. Her clinical experiences have led her to become a passionate advocate for access to quality medical and mental healthcare for vulnerable and marginalized people, leading to frequent media engagements, and appearances as an expert witness before the Canadian Senate and Ontario Provincial Parliament on issues pertaining to the practice of medicine and psychiatry in Canada. She currently serves as a Council Member of the Ontario Psychiatric Association. Outside her professional interests, she plays violin and sings in a local choir, often sharing her time and talent in fundraising concerts for local charities. She believes in building strong and healthy communities through relationship building and is delighted to be able to partner with the University of Ottawa and affiliated teaching sites to help others reach their full potential in a supportive and welcoming environment.
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry Espérance Kashala-Abotnes, MD, PhD
Dr. Espérance Kashala-Abotnes, MD, PhD, is a child and adolescent psychiatrist, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Ottawa, and Staff Psychiatrist at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). She is also Professor of Neuropsychiatry at the University of Kinshasa (DRC), where her research has long focused on neurodevelopmental disorders, the impact of environmental and infectious stressors on child cognition, maternal mental health and culturally grounded mental health care. With clinical and academic experience spanning Europe, Asia, Canada and sub-Saharan Africa, Dr. Kashala-Abotnes brings a deeply relational, cross-cultural lens to the care of young people whose identities are still in formation. Her work emphasizes the ethical and emotional complexities of accompanying children and adolescents through vulnerability, stigma, migration, chronic illness, and the ordinary turbulence of becoming. She is passionate about bridging global perspectives to create therapeutic spaces that honor both scientific rigor and the sacred unfolding of each young life.
Psychiatrist Natasha Fernandes, MD
Dr. Natasha Fernandes is a general psychiatrist specialized in the care for adults with developmental disabilities. She works in the Adult Neurodevelopmental Services outpatient clinic and will provide consults to the Emergency Department and Inpatient units at CAMH. Her main research and teaching interests center on the psychiatric care provided to adults with a developmental disability. Previous projects have included the care this population receives in the acute care setting and most recently the care they receive during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Fernandes obtained her MD from the University of Ottawa in 2016. Subsequently, she completed her psychiatry residency at the University of Toronto and graduated in 2021. She also has a Masters degree in Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics from McMaster University.
Visiting Fellow in the Bioethics, Technology and Human Flourishing Program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center Alexander Raikin
Alexander Raikin is a Visiting Fellow in the Bioethics, Technology and Human Flourishing Program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. His research focuses on the dignity of human life and end-of-life issues, especially on its impact on the field of medicine and broader ethical questions of social belonging. His writing has been widely cited in major publications such as The Atlantic and the New York Times and in academic journals in the United States, Canada, UK, and France. He wrote cover stories for National Review and The New Atlantis, while his other bylines include City Journal, Plough, and the Washington Free Beacon. Raikin frequently speaks on national radio and on major podcasts. Last year, Raikin was an inaugural Richard John Neuhaus Fellow at the Public Interest Fellowship and EPPC. He was a Tikvah Summer Fellow and a Killam scholar with Fulbright at American University. He graduated from Carleton University with a bachelor’s degree in public policy. Raikin is a proud member of Kesher Israel synagogue and lives with his wife in Washington, D.C.
Lawyer | United Nations Legal Officer with ADF International Bettina Roska
Bettina Roska serves as a United Nations Legal Officer with ADF International in Geneva, Switzerland. She works with ADF International advocates, allied diplomats, and like-minded organizations to ensure the protection and equal treatment of all religious minorities around the world by utilizing the human rights mechanisms within the UN system. Prior to joining ADF International, Roska completed a one-year internship at Lawyers Without Borders in Washington, DC. This internship led her to pursue a Master of Advanced Studies in Transitional Justice, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, a daughter institute of the Graduate Institute of International and Developmental Studies. Roska earned her LL.B at the University of Basel. During her studies, she interned with various human rights organizations, such as the Global Network for Public Interest Law.
Lawyer - Human Rights Lia Milousis
Lia Milousis is a human rights lawyer, motivational speaker, and self-published author. She graduated from the University of Ottawa with a Joint Honours Specialization in Women’s Studies and Political Science, and she completed her Juris Doctor at the University of Ottawa, graduating with a specialization in Social Justice. Lia first stepped onto the stage of activism at the age of twelve (under the pseudonym "Lia Mills"), when a video of her speech about abortion went viral on YouTube. Since that time, Lia has continued being a voice for the voiceless, expanding her passion for social justice to include topics like euthanasia, assisted suicide, and human trafficking. Lia is undeterred in her goal to make abortion both unnecessary and unthinkable. Her passion to see abortion end in her lifetime, combined with her understanding that the needs of pregnant women must be properly addressed before this will become a reality, motivated her to write An Inconvenient Life, a book about her experiences as a young pro-life woman.
Family Medicine - Clinical Ethicist Jeremy Bannon, MD, MA, CCFP
Jeremy Bannon, MD, MA, CCFP, is a physician and bioethicist with interests in clinical ethics, end and beginning-of-life decision-making, transplant ethics, and the ethical assessment of emerging medical technologies. He is a Hospitalist at Hotel Dieu Shaver Rehabilitation Hospital in St. Catharines, Ontario, and an Assistant Clinical Professor (Part Time) at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine. He holds an MD from the University of Alberta, completed family medicine residency at McMaster University, is certified by the College of Family Physicians of Canada, and earned an MA in Catholic Clinical Ethics from Georgetown University.
Professor of History Daniel Gilman, PhD (pending)
Daniel Gilman is Professor of History and Interim Faculty Chaplain at Redeemer University, where he teaches history and core courses. He is completing a PhD at Cambridge University on the art of public speaking and conversations in the campaign to end the slave trade. Daniel serves as an apologist with Apologetics Canada. He is a former speechwriter in Canada’s Parliament and now advises the Interparliamentary Taskforce on Human Trafficking as a Legislative Assistant. Through FEUER Academics, he trains scholars in Europe to share Christ with clarity and courage in university settings. He also directs the Centre for Public Speaking, coaching Members of Parliament, professors, and pastors in speaking and preaching. He and his wife Alexandra love hosting faculty and students for brunch at their home
Family Medicine Kiely Williams, MD
Dr. Kiely Williams is a family physician in Calgary, Alberta. She graduated from UBC Medical School in 2008. She completed Family Medicine Residency at the U of C in 2012. During residency, her clinical research was on identification and health outcomes of Human Trafficking victims. Following graduation, she completed additional training in paediatric mental health and Travel Medicine. She has experience working as a hospitalist and in ER’s. She is currently the Medical Director of her clinic. She teaches medical students and residents in her role as a Clinical Associate with the University of Calgary. Additionally, she works for the CPSA and the Alberta Physician Assessment and Support Services as a peer evaluator and clinical mentor.
Bioethicist Xavier Symons, MA, MSt Practical Ethics, PhD
Xavier is Director of the Plunkett Centre for Ethics at the Australian Catholic University. Xavier’s research interests include ethical issues at the beginning and end of life, conscientious objection, ethical issues in aged care, and pandemic ethics. His recently completed PhD thesis focused on the allocation of lifesaving healthcare resources. Xavier has taught bioethics for several years, and has worked with the Catholic healthcare sector on several projects related to ethics education. In 2020, Xavier was awarded a Fulbright Future Postdoctoral Scholarship, and he was a scholar in residence at Georgetown University's Kennedy Institute of Ethics from September 2021 to March 2022.
Family Medicine Will Johnston, MD
Will Johnston has been practicing full-service family medicine and obstetrics in Vancouver, BC for over 40 years. He is the chair of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition of BC and past president of Canadian Physicians for Life.
Gen Z Patient Faith Groleau
Faith Groleau is a Gen Z woman who has had extensive experience as a patient navigating a history of trauma, medical complexity, and mental health challenges concerning self concept and identity. She is passionate about improving the doctor-patient relationship through promoting curiosity to each patients' story and attention to the psycho-social factors impacting health. Faith lives in Brantford, ON and is starting university this fall.
FAQ
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Are there scholarships available for medical students and residents?
Yes! There are scholarships available for medical students and residents. The scholarship will cover the cost of the conference fees, hotel room and a portion of your travel. There is no deadline to apply for the scholarship but we award the scholarships on a rolling basis until the scholarship fund is depleted.
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Can I attend part of the conference?
Yes! We have many options on the registration form, so you can choose what works best for you. We have options for Friday night, Saturday from 9am to 5 pm, Saturday including banquet, Saturday banquet only, Sunday morning and all combinations.
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What does the full conference fee include?
The full conference fee includes eight sessions with speakers, Friday night social, Saturday breakfast, lunch and banquet and Sunday breakfast. There will also be coffee and snacks on Saturday and Sunday. In-person conference participants will also receive access to the online conference.
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What is included in the on-line conference and is everything pre-recorded?
The online conference will be available the morning of Friday November 20th. It consists of all the recorded sessions from the in-person conference. It also includes four live sessions. The Friday evening speaker at the online conference is a live session with Xavier Symons and will be recorded. The discussion sessions on Saturday are live and will not be recorded.
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How do I access the recorded sessions?
The conference will be hosted on CPL's Learning Platform. You will receive access to it in September. The recorded sessions from the conference will be available on Friday, November 20th.
