Our History

The 9^th Annual Caribbean Medicolegal and Forensic Symposium (CMFS) represents the progressive growth of a regional professional initiative for medicolegal and forensic science practitioners which started in 2016 in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) in response to a training initiative request that was made by the Honourable Madam Justice Kathy Ann Waterman-Latchoo of the Criminal Division of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) who was based in SVG, of Ms Rene Baptiste, President  of the SVG Bar Association, and Dr Rosalind Ambrose, President of the SVG Medical Association.

The inaugural one-day event was coined the Forensic Symposium of the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Medical and Bar Associations (SVGMBA) and featured eight (8) presentations on forensic pathology and the criminal justice system by Dr Alfredo E Walker, forensic pathologist from the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine of the University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and Mr Ranjiv Persad, attorney-at-law and the immediate former judge of the ECSC who had been previously based in SVG.

The professional relevance and success of this inaugural symposium prompted a request by members of both the SVG Medical and Bar Associations, and other stakeholders of the criminal justice system, that this event be held annually and so the Annual Forensic Symposium of the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Medical and Bar Associations (SVGMBA) was born with Dr Alfredo Walker tasked with organizing the academic content of the programme.

The second symposium in 2017 was extended to two days and included topics in forensic science and saw a growth in both local, regional and international interest in attending, with the programme boasting speakers from the United Kingdom and Canada.

There third symposium in 2018 attracted a record of 109 participants from a wider cross section of the Caribbean, in addition to the UK, USA and Canada and it was evident that its growth in attendance would outstrip the ability for it to be continued to be held in SVG.

By 2019, the progressive annual growth in attendance, significance and relevance to practice of this symposium forced consideration that it be held outside of SVG and rotated to other islands and this annual event was transformed into the annual medicolegal and forensic symposium of a conceptualized regional umbrella organization that was called the Caribbean Medicolegal Society (CMLS). As such, the first of this annual symposia that was held outside of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines occurred in Saint Lucia in 2019, in collaboration with the Saint Lucia Forensic Science Laboratory.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic mandated an online format of the symposium. With the return to in-person gatherings, subsequent host islands have been Trinidad and Tobago (2022), Barbados (2023), and Grenada (2024). For 2025, it was decided that we return to Saint Lucia as we make our way back to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in 2026 to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of this event where it all started.

All symposia have been extremely successful and have been planned and convened under the umbrella banner of the Caribbean Medicolegal Society in conjunction with the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa (uOttawa), the Eastern Ontario Regional Laboratory Association (EORLA) and sometimes a local stakeholder organization in the host jurisdiction. The 6^th Annual CMFS in Trinidad and Tobago in 2022 boasted a record in-person attendance of 175 local, regional and international participants and the hybrid 8^th Annual CMFS in Grenada in 2024 attracted 159 participants. It is predicted that the 9^th CMFS will achieve the highest attendance to date.

Booklets (2024, 2023, 2022 and 2019) and photographs from previous symposia are displayed on this site for your perusal.