CPhA Highlights Canada's Role at the 84th FIP World Congress in Montréal

The Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA) reported on September 9, 2026 that Canadian pharmacy had a prominent presence at the 84th FIP World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, held in Montréal from August 30 to September 2 -- the first time the congress has returned to Canada since 1997. The event drew a record 3,455 delegates from 116 countries. CPhA Chair Deb Saltmarche opened the Congress, and CPhA Chief Pharmacist Officer Dr. Sadaf Faisal presented CPhA's National Benchmark for Pharmacy Practice and the associated Pharmacists CAN campaign to the international audience. Maggie Chi, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health, also addressed delegates, telling the congress that "pharmacists assume a broader range of responsibilities in patient care." The relevance spans both community and hospital/institutional pharmacy, since the sessions and declarations described below touch scope-of-practice recognition, chronic disease management, and international credential mobility that affect pharmacists across practice settings.

Practice guidance for pharmacists

• Pharmacists supervising or working alongside internationally educated pharmacy graduates (IEPGs) should ask their employer or provincial regulator about CPhA's IPG Mentorship and Integration Project, which drew significant international interest at the congress, for details on enrolment and mentor matching.
• Pharmacists involved in chronic disease management -- diabetes, hypertension, and related conditions -- should watch for follow-up from the FIP Montréal Declaration on Non-Communicable Diseases, which CPhA helped develop and which frames pharmacists as "essential primary health-care providers"; it may inform future domestic scope-of-practice advocacy.
• Pharmacists wanting to benchmark their own practice against a national standard should look for the public release of CPhA's National Benchmark for Pharmacy Practice and accompanying Pharmacists CAN campaign materials, presented at the congress by Dr. Sadaf Faisal.
• Pharmacy managers and owners should note that a Parliamentary Secretary to the federal Minister of Health addressed the congress directly on pharmacists' expanding patient-care role -- a signal worth tracking alongside ongoing provincial and territorial scope-of-practice changes.
• Pharmacists with an interest in international credential recognition or cross-border collaboration should watch for outcomes of CPhA's bilateral meetings with pharmacy associations from Korea, Singapore, and Portugal held at the congress.

Montréal's selection to host FIP for the first time since 1997 reflects growing international attention to how Canadian pharmacy practice has evolved, and the congress's themes -- primary care integration, chronic disease management, and workforce mobility -- track closely with domestic scope-of-practice expansions already underway in several provinces and territories, including Ontario's minor ailments expansion and the Northwest Territories' proposed prescribing and vaccination authority. CPhA has indicated these international connections and commitments will inform its ongoing advocacy for pharmacists' recognition as primary health-care providers within Canada's health system.