The majority of members on the Canadian Medical Association Journal's editorial board resigned Thursday to protest the firing of senior editorial staff a month earlier.

The 95-year-old journal and its owner, the Canadian Medical Association, have been embroiled in controversy since the February dismissals of Dr. John Hoey, who was the CMAJ's editor, and Anne Marie Todkill, who was senior deputy editor.

Editorial autonomy at the CMAJ is at the centre of the dispute.
Editorial autonomy at the CMAJ is at the centre of the dispute.

The dispute has revolved around issues of editorial independence between the journal and the association, which represents doctors in Canada.

"The primary reason for our resignation is our loss of trust in the CMA leadership in relation to the CMAJ," 14 of 19 board members wrote in their resignation letter to the association's president, Dr. Ruth Collins-Nikai.

"As already stated in our earlier communications, we were deeply concerned by the firing, without declared cause, of two outstanding and highly successful editors who had led the CMAJ very effectively."

Steven Lewis, one of the board members who resigned, said medical journals aim to be open and lively forums to debate health policy issues – but that's only possible if editors are independent of publishers and owners.

Dr. Noni MacDonald, the acting editor-in-chief of the CMAJ, has accepted the resignations of the editorial board members.

In a statement, MacDonald said it was unfortunate they resigned while Antonio Lamer, a former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, is chairing a panel on governance at the journal and its relationship to the CMAJ.

MacDonald also said an new interim editorial board would be announced soon.

CMA changes 'largely cosmetic,' letter alleges

The exact reasons that led to the ousters of Hoey and Todkill haven't been made clear. Both the Canadian Medical Association and those who left the journal say they're prevented from talking about the reasons because of a confidentiality agreement.

Earlier in March, CMA Media Inc. publisher Graham Morris told CBC News that the journal wanted to make "some changes in emphasis," saying the dismissals were not related to concerns over specific stories or Hoey's approach.

In their letter, the resigning board members said they believe the CMA's recent actions and announcements "regarding establishing editorial autonomy are largely cosmetic and unlikely to lead to an independent and free voice for health-related issues in Canada."

The letter also said Collins-Nikai further "undermined trust" in an interview with CBC Radio's As It Happens on March 7, alleging the CMA president made ambiguous statements about whether Hoey and Todkill left willingly or were fired.

Dr. Jerome Kassirer, the former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, resigned from the CMAJ's editorial board earlier in the week. A part-time editor at the journal, Steve Shumak, also quit in protest over the issue on Thursday.

Four members of the editorial board did not resign:

  • Dr. Paul Armstrong, a cardiologist in Edmonton.
  • Dr. Alan Bernstein, head of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research in Ottawa.
  • Dr. Robert Hegele, a cardiac researcher from London, Ont.
  • Dr. Martin Schechter, an HIV/AIDS researcher and clinician from Vancouver.