Update on the FMSQ Teaching Strike Announcement

11/9/2025

Hey everyone!

You most likely already saw the news: the Fédérations des Médecins Spécialistes du Québec (FMSQ) is going on a teaching strike starting next Monday, September 15th.

They announced in their press conference earlier this afternoon that starting Monday, specialists will stop all administrative medical reunions and will stop teaching all students of the pre-clinical and clerkship level, meaning all medical students. Residents are not affected yet.

The Fédération Médicale Étudiante du Québec (FMEQ) is holding a special meeting this Saturday to discuss with all four faculties and establish a common position. The goal is to have a common stance among all faculties in Québec, nevertheless one that represents the realities of our own student body, McGill Medicine. Therefore, on Saturday, after meeting with the FMEQ, I will send you another email to gather your input.

I contacted Dr. Mondou yesterday, and the latest information I received is that the Faculty is preparing a contingency plan to reduce the impact on us. We should all hear from them very soon. I will let you know as soon as I have more information.

What this means for us:

Clerkship:

  • This is a recommendation considering we are still in the unknown, but cancelling all Leaves of Absence for the next three days would be a good practice to increase the amount of potential allowed overall missed days in your current course.
    • If you already had LoAs in the past weeks, do not stress about this; the situation is evolving daily, let’s focus on what we can do forward. 
  • Please submit all EPAs and CAFs you wanted to send as soon as possible for staff to be able to fill them before the start of the strike.
    • Remind them to fill them, as usual.
  • On Monday: Prepare to still show up at the hospital for your regular shift. There is a possibility that you will need to attend, to then be dismissed. Therefore, plan next week as any other week. 
  • CARMS: We do not have information yet as to how the strike will affect CARMS. There is not much we know here as students, and if I learn more about that, I will let you know via email or coordinate with Taylor, your Med-4 Class President. 

FMD:

At this point, I personally do not expect major disruptions, considering that recordings from previous years are available, small groups can be taught by residents, and anatomy is not always taught by MDs. This is not official information, just letting you know in advance that I think you should still expect to show up to class on Monday. Please do not get a professionalism flag by not attending mandatory classes!

Overall:

Please do not book a vacation for next week or leave the city, the situation is evolving very fast, hour to hour. We might go back to regular teaching activities as soon as Tuesday; the strike could even be cancelled altogether. We do not know what will happen.

For now, we can only prepare to make sure we are not surprised by what we are told. The purpose of this email is transparency. When I have more information, I will let you know. The Faculty should send an email very soon to explain what will happen.

In the meantime, resist the urge to book a flight to Cancún. Keep showing up like it’s business as usual, and hopefully we will get through this all together.

Ryan Kara

Montréal Campus Executive President | Président exécutif du Campus Montréal

Medical Students’ Society of McGill University | Association des Étudiant(e)s en Médecine de l’Université McGill

M.D.,C.M. Class of 2027