On March 11, 2019, CMTBC posted a statement of its position in response to the decision of the Canadian Massage Therapy Council for Accreditation (CMTCA) to suspend its operations in British Columbia.

At that time, CMTBC committed to “working toward an outcome that protects the public and addresses the interests of BC stakeholders”. 

CMTBC held a facilitated stakeholders’ consultation on July 29, 2019 with representatives from each of BC’s massage therapy education programs, as well as from CMTCA, Registered Massage Therapists Association of BC, and two BC provincial government ministries. The views expressed that day were wide-ranging and not always congruent.

Nonetheless, based on what CMTBC saw as the key points of consensus at that consultation, CMTBC has offered to provide multi-year funding to CMTCA. The offer to fund CMTCA is based on conditions that CMTBC considers necessary to achieve a smooth transition of program accreditation from CMTBC – which has performed this function since 1995 – to CMTCA. CMTBC considers an orderly and seamless transition of program accreditation to be important for continued public protection, since accreditation is one of the tools that the College uses to ensure that all new RMTs meet CMTBC’s entry-to-practice requirements.

CMTBC has chosen to publish its most recent correspondence to CMTCA as an open letter, so that registrants and others understand CMTBC’s position in full. Read the CMTBC letter to CMTCA (PDF).

The impasse between CMTBC and CMTCA about funding has been unfortunate. CMTBC is hopeful that recent dialogue, including the July 29 meeting, has led to greater understanding and willingness to be flexible on both sides, and that this will ultimately lead to massage therapy education program accreditation in BC being performed by an independent third-party accreditation body.