CMTCA is pleased to announce that as of March 1, three provincial colleges of massage therapists have signed a multi-year agreement to continue to fund CMTCA and its accreditation services.
We extend our thanks and appreciation to the massage therapy professionals who are represented by:
The College of Massage Therapists of Ontario
The College of Massage Therapists of New Brunswick
The College of Massage Therapists of Newfoundland and Labrador
Their $22/year contribution to CMTCA will support the accreditation of massage therapy education programs in those provinces. Accreditation benefits students, raises the credibility of the profession as a whole, and gives regulators, associations, and the public greater confidence that massage therapy services are safe, ethical, and high quality.
While discussions are ongoing with the rest of the country, at this point accreditation services in all other provinces except Alberta have been suspended as of March 1. In Alberta, new applications will be accepted until June 1, after which accreditation services for new applicants from Alberta will also be suspended until a multi-year agreement is signed with the associations representing massage therapy professionals in Alberta.
Sustaining CMTCA accreditation services
The accreditation of massage therapy education programs benefits not only students but the profession as a whole by ensuring graduates are prepared to maintain the high-quality standards of care and service expected of regulated health care professionals.
Toward the end of 2018, the CMTCA board faced a difficult decision. To that date, CMTCA accreditation services had been available throughout Canada, but it was becoming clear that this could only continue if each province provided equitable funding. Given that a few provinces were providing disproportionate support and subsidizing the rest, the board announced that accreditation services would be suspended unless provincial massage therapy regulators or massage therapy associations in unregulated provinces signed a multi-year sustainability agreement to fund CMTCA.
We are pleased to announce that the following colleges of massage therapists have signed the agreement, and we thank them for their support:
The College of Massage Therapists of Ontario
The College of Massage Therapists of New Brunswick
The College of Massage Therapists of Newfoundland and Labrador
As a result, CMTCA will continue to provide accreditation services in Ontario, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador. We encourage massage therapy education programs in these provinces to continue their plans to become accredited by CMTCA.
In Alberta, the Massage Therapist Association of Alberta has contributed fees to support CMTCA until the summer of 2019. Therefore, CMTCA will accept applications for accreditation from schools in Alberta until June 1, 2019. After that date, CMTCA accreditation services will not be available to new applicants in Alberta unless all massage therapy associations in the province commit to supporting CMTCA by signing the multi-year agreement.
Finally, CMTCA accreditation services have been suspended in the rest of the country as of March 1. As with Alberta, we will, of course, reinstate services in any province that chooses to sign the multi-year agreement.
CMTCA urges massage therapy professionals outside of Ontario, New Brunswick, or Newfoundland and Labrador to contact your regulator or association and ask them to fund CMTCA by signing the agreement. The cost to you is $22 per year, as part of your fees. The benefits are myriad. Help make the original vision of a truly national accreditation program for Canadian massage therapy education programs a reality.