As a veterinarian and community leader, Timothy Arthur’s 40-year-long career reflects a life rich with experiences that reflect his commitment to hands-on veterinary care, lifelong learning, and community service.

After graduating from Ontario Veterinary College in 1982—and two externships at the Angel Memorial Animal Hospital in Boston and then the University of Philadelphia Small Animal Hospital to gain hands-on ophthalmology experience—Dr. Arthur started his career at a facility in Mississauga, Ont.

“In those days, the only referral centre was the University of Guelph, so we did all our own emergency calls, orthopedics, cesarians—everything,” he recalls. “As the new kid on the block, I was given the birds and pocket pets and quickly fell in love with pet rats. The hours were nuts, but the rewards were exhilarating.”

Soon after, he founded the Coxwell Animal Clinic in Toronto’s east end, where he also supported after-hours emergency care—a novel concept at the time—and began engaging with the broader veterinary community through education and outreach. “That facility was sold 15 years ago when I relocated to Ottawa. I now enjoy partial retirement as a 20-hour-a-week employee,” he shares.

Arthur’s dedication to the Canadian veterinary community is evident in his many volunteer roles, which have spanned education, advocacy, and leadership. From organizing Toronto’s Annual Rabies Clinics to serving on the College of Veterinarians of Ontario (CVO) Complaints Committee, he has consistently worked to support and strengthen the field. He also contributed to the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association (OVMA) working group, helped establish a voluntary fee guide, and held prominent leadership roles as both a council member and president of the CVO, as well as a board member and president of the Toronto Wildlife Centre. Additionally, Arthur served as an Ontario representative on the CVMA Council and represented the CVMA on the OVMA Board.

Veterinary Practice News Canada caught up with Arthur to discuss the challenges facing Canadian veterinary professionals today and to explore the CVMA’s primary initiatives and priorities for the year ahead.

1) How long have you been working with the CVMA, and what sparked your interest in joining the organization?

I have always believed in the benefit of volunteering and have always been very bad at turning down requests. My journey to the CVMA started with an organization called the Toronto Academy of Continuing Education, where I helped organize monthly CE. The next jump was to the CVO Complaints Committee, where I gained even more CE by evaluating the public’s concerns about the profession. At the same time, the local member advocacy group, the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association, was starting work on what we now know as a “suggested fee guide,” so I also hopped on that project. A few years later, I was “voluntold” that a seat on the CVO council was in my future, which piqued my interest in self-regulation. That brought me in contact with the CVMA, my voluntary home for the last 10 years.

The great thing about the CVMA is that it has its fingers in a lot of different pies. I was fortunate to be placed on the Animal Welfare Committee very early in my tenure, which opened my eyes to things I had never thought about before and alerted me to just how big an impact organized veterinary medicine could have on that aspect of Canadian society.

2) How has your tenure been as CVMA president?

The first four months have been a blast. The national veterinary conference in Calgary included a half-day session on animal sentience that caught the attention of the press. Numerous media interviews occupied the following weeks, and interest is still ongoing. We may eventually see sentience recognized more in Canadian Law.

The announcement by the American Centers for Disease Control (CDC) regarding changes to dog importation into the U.S. exploded onto the scene two weeks after the conference, and the press now had a new issue to ask questions about. The CVMA worked tirelessly to disseminate information to the public and the profession while working in the back room to develop a more practical set of stipulations. Six weeks later, the result was an updated set of regulations that were much easier to work with and a request that veterinarians on both sides of the border be part of the negotiating team that designs the next update, due in May 2025.

Discussions about the import regulations allowed me to raise awareness with the press about our profession’s workforce shortage and mental health challenges. Interviews on these subjects are now my main touch point with Canadians.

3) What are the most pressing issues facing Canadian veterinary professionals today?

Mental health and workforce shortage are intertwined and, far and away, the most critical challenge our profession has faced since I joined it in 1982. We are short veterinarians, technologists (technicians), and support staff. Long hours, having to say “no,” facing economic impediments to care, inability to refer complicated cases, worries about our regulator’s opinions of less than “gold standard” medicine, and a general feeling of helplessness have driven some people out of the profession and left others looking into dark places as a solution.

4) How does the CVMA plan to address the ongoing challenges related to mental health and burnout among veterinarians? What accomplishments are you most proud of?

I am so proud of this organization and its council. Over the last two years, I have seen the CVMA revitalize from a ‘let’s study the problem’ to a ‘let’s do something about the problem’ type of organization.

Some of this effort has been in-house. A two-day meeting of all organizations involved in the profession (deans, member and regulatory organizations, provincial and federal governments, One Health, etc.) was convened in Ottawa, and a workforce plan was designed and divided among the participants. Mental health support programs have been evaluated and made available to the membership. A new staff person was hired to deal specifically with wellness and diversity, equity, and inclusion. In a parallel undertaking, a new mentorship program will soon be launched to increase resilience and self-fulfillment.

A lot of this effort has taken place on Parliament Hill. Two years ago, I would never have imagined that the CVMA would be walking around Parliament Hill asking the government for $50 million to build a national testing centre at the Western Veterinary College so that we could triple the number of internationally trained veterinarians available to the Canadian marketplace. Giving presentations to Canada’s press and politicians from the National Press Gallery was not on a “to-do” list, and the idea of an undistinguished veterinarian from Toronto walking up, introducing himself and raising awareness about his profession’s problems to Minister Saks (Mental Health and Addictions) was a pipe dream. All these efforts are now reality.

5) Looking ahead, what are your goals for the CVMA, and how do you envision the future of veterinary medicine in Canada?

This year’s Animal Health Week went from an event visible at local veterinary facilities to something discussed in the national press thanks to another visit to the National Press Gallery. Addressing the dwindling supply of veterinary pharmaceuticals and biologics will become a larger part of our push on Parliament Hill, working with concerned producer organizations such as the Dairy Farmers of Canada. The huge rise in sales of unhealthy or conformationally/personality-challenged puppies at unregulated online sites such as Kijiji and Facebook Marketplace may also warrant some attention from the CVMA. The workforce issues will improve, but it will take time. Our profession will end up in a better place because we will be using our staff to their full potential, using new modalities such as telemedicine to help clients we currently cannot service and using scribing software to speed up medical record creation. Finally, my long-term goal is to see the CVMA and the veterinary community become the “go-to” organization for the press and government regarding animal welfare issues.