APPRECIATION
Service to medical regulation
runs in the family
By Stuart Foxman
W
hen Dr. Hugh Kendall began
working on behalf of the
College as a peer assessor, he
was surprised to learn that he
was not the first in his family to participate in
medical regulation. In fact, he learned that his
grandmother – broadcaster Betty Kennedy – is
considered a College pioneer.
Ms. Kennedy, who died in March 2017 at
91, was best known as a 33-year panellist on
CBC’s current affairs quiz show Front Page
Challenge and hosted her own show on To-
ronto’s CFRB radio for 27 years.
She was inducted into both the Canadian
Broadcasting Hall of Fame and the Canadian
News Hall of Fame, was an Officer of the
Order of Canada, and in 2000 was
appointed to the Canadian Senate.
For the CPSO, Ms. Kennedy held
yet another distinction: the first
public member to serve on a College
committee.
It happened in 1970, several years
before legislation required the inclu-
sion of public members in CPSO
governance. After hearing concerns
over how some complaints were
handled, CPSO’s Council asked the
Ms. Betty Kennedy
Ontario government to appoint a lay
was a panellist
person to the Complaints Committee. Ms.
on Front Page
Kennedy was named, which the then Council
Challenge.
viewed as a way to support the idea of “par-
ticipatory democracy within the affairs of the
College.”
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DIALOGUE ISSUE 4, 2017
When Dr. Kendall became involved with the
College, Ms. Kennedy told him about her own
role. It made sense to him. He says his grand-
mother was a groundbreaker in media, so why
not be a groundbreaker in this arena too?
Dr. Kendall’s maternal grandfather was
George Allan Burton, who ran the Simpson’s
department store. Kennedy married Burton
in 1976 after her husband and his wife had
passed away. “She’s the grandmother I knew
and grew up with,” says Dr. Kendall.
He recalls a time, after the marriage, when
his grandfather was a mystery guest on Front
Page Challenge and disguised his voice so Ms.
Kennedy couldn’t guess his identity.
Was Dr. Kendall impressed because his
grandmother was on TV? Not as much as
by her other achievements. “I used to think
she was cool because she interviewed Donny
Osmond on CFRB,” he laughs.
For Dr. Kendall’s family, going into medi-
cine, and making a broader impact on health
care and science, was part of a tradition.
His father and other grandfather were both
physicians. A great-uncle, Eli Franklin Burton,
chaired the Physics Department at the Univer-
sity of Toronto and developed the first practical
electron microscope. The Burton Family Wing
at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children and
Burton Hall at the former Wellesley Hospital
bear the family name.
“My path to going into medical school was
easy to decide,” says Dr. Kendall.
Dr. Kendall, a general surgeon and head of