This year’s incoming class at Max Rady College of Medicine put on their first white coats at a ceremony in Winnipeg last month. Now comes the other rite of passage: the backpack. 

Why it matters: For more than 25 years, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and provincial medical associations have handed every incoming Canadian medical student the same colorful backpack. It marks who’s just starting out, it links this year’s class to every class before it, and around campus, it’s a walking hello to a stranger who’s about to become a colleague. 

How it works: Doctors Manitoba partners with the CMA to host the local event, handing bags directly to Med 1 students early in the school year. 

What they’re saying: Dr. Courtney Howard, President-Elect of the Canadian Medical Association and an emergency physician, addressed the new class: 

• “The relationships you form with one another are going to get you through some really difficult times, so invest in those. Continue investing in relationships with your family… and invest in the community of medicine, because we’re facing a public crisis of challenges that we weren’t when I was a medical student. It’s our work together that’s going to get us through that.” 

Our current Doctors Manitoba President, Dr. Alon Altman, has reflected on a happy accident that happened when he received his backpack in B.C. They ran out of backpacks with the Doctors of BC patches on them. They found a replacement for him, but it had a different logo: The Manitoba Medical Association, which would soon change its name to Doctors Manitoba.

• “I was the only one in my class who got a Manitoba bag,” he said.​“At the time, it felt like a random mistake. Looking back… maybe it wasn’t.”

• Doctor Altman was born and raised in BC, and only chose Manitoba as his home after completing his residency training.