The Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA) is a membership-based, not-for-profit organization that provides legal defense, liability protection, and risk-management education for physicians in Canada. The CMPA also provides compensation to patients and their families proven to have been harmed by negligent clinical care. In 2016, the CMPA's membership list totaled 95,691 physicians. The organization has its headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Early days Founded at the 1901 annual meeting of the Canadian Medical Association, the CMPA was incorporated by an Act of Parliament on 27 February 1913, and given Royal Assent on 16 May 1913. On its 100th anniversary, the CMPA published A History of the Canadian Medical Protective Association 1901-2001. This document contains excerpts from the earliest CMPA annual reports. From pages 7–9: Object of the New Association Dr. R.W. Powell, who was the first president of the CMPA, retained the position for 33 years. Dr. Powell’s annual reports optimistically predicted the CMPA would be a large and important organization while describing the difficulties in increasing the membership. His reports are interspersed with harangues on recruiting new members and the 1911 annual report boasted: We have struck terror into the evil minded who have sought to besmirch and even blackmail members of our noble profession. The business of the CMPA was and still is protecting physicians, which it does by hiring the best legal help. Testament to the calibre of the legal assistance is evidenced by the number of CMPA counsel who have been appointed to the bench in provincial and federal courts through the years. Incorporation - A Stormy Passage The Act of Incorporation generated considerable lively debate in both the House of Commons and Senate of Canada. Members of Parliament received petitions objecting to it. Feelings ran high. An MP said in debate: I think this legislation is dangerous. It is legislation against the interests of the mass of the people, and is the creation of a monopolistic corporation... against the rights of the individual in the matter of the selection of his method of cure and treatment in the case of disease. Speaking about protecting the rights of the individual, another MP summed up: If the individual realizes that instead of going up against a man whom he believes to be guilty, he has to go up against a strong corporation composed of the medical men of the country, with a fund at their disposal