Canadian Federation of Biological Societies : The Canadian Federation of Biological Societies (CFBS) was created in 1957 to speak for a variety of small biological societies in Canada. The number of societies the CFBS represented varied between six and fifteen over the years. Each member society contributed a fixed sum per member to pay for a CFBS president, secretary, executive director, and science policy officer. It was the CFBS that represented these societies to the federal government and with other federations.
The constituent societies were as follows:
The Canadian Physiological Society (CPS)
The Phamacological Society of Canada (PSC)
The Canadian Association of Anatomists (CAA)
The Canadian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (CSBMB)
The Canadian Society for Nutritional Sciences (CSNS)
The Canadian Society for Cellular and Mollecular Biology (CSI)
The Society for Toxicology of Canada (STC)
The Biophysical Society of Canada (BSC)
The Canadian Society of Plant Physiology (CSPP)
The Entomological Society of Canada (ESC)
The Canadian Council of University Biology Chairmen (CCUBC)
The Genetics Society of Canada (GSC)
The Canadian Society for Theoretical Biology (CSTB)
The Canadian Phytopathological Society of Canada (CPS)
The CFBS had two main functions. The administrative functions included organization of all CFBS meetings, including the annual multi-disciplinary scientific meeting which was held in a chosen Canadian city. From the mid-1980s onwards, the function of science policy assumed greater visibility, and as such the organization maintained a permanent science policy office in Ottawa. Within this office, a Science Policy Officer (SPO) was employed to speak for the organization to the federal government. The SPO reported to the CFBS Science Policy Committee and the CFBS Board of Directors.
CFBS was a major participant in the affairs of the National Consortium of Scientific and Educational Societies and in the Coalition for Biomedical and Health Research. It enjoyed close liasons with two relevant granting councils, the Medical Research Council of Canada (MRC) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). CFBS supported activities that increased the public awareness of science. Other organizations that received support and/or co-operation from the CFBS included the Youth Science Foundation, the American Type Culture Collection, the Technical Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste Management, the National Cancer Institute of Canada, and the Royal Society of Canada.
The CFBS was responsible for the following publications: Newsletter (bi-annual); Programme and Proceedings (annual); Membership Directory (every second year); Science Sources; Scientists in School (annual).
Due to a number of factors, such as increased membership costs, CFBS was disbanded in 2008.