Background: While guidelines such as the Canadian Stroke Best Practices have been developed for stroke professionals to use in providing quality stroke care, gaps remain in providing this care. There also remains a need for organized stroke education and research from a national perspective, allowing information and advances in stroke care to be disseminated across the country. A national platform for stroke professionals is needed to advocate for quality care, and to provide education and research support. 
 
Aim: The Canadian Stroke Consortium is Canada’s professional organization for stroke professionals, representing stroke neurologists, allied health professionals, clinical researchers, and stroke experts across the continuum of care.   We strive to ensure excellence in stroke care, education, and clinical research, through advocacy and collaboration with governments and public health organizations to provide high quality stroke care for all Canadians. As part of our efforts to provide this, a position statement was drafted to establish the Consortium’s guiding principles.
 
Intervention and Results: A Policy and Advocacy Committee was established by the Consortium to determine positions and statements supported by the group that would serve as a basis for advocacy to provincial and national decision-makers and stakeholders. Statements were reviewed by the committee and a final list was compiled based upon feedback and consensus.
 
Future Directions: These statements will be made publicly available on the Canadian Stroke Consortium’s website, and the group will determine a strategy for discussion and lobbying to promote and enact the positions to improve stroke care across the country.

Development of an advocacy and position statement for stroke professionals in Canada - the Canadian Stroke Consortium