On December 7th, the Government of Saskatchewan introduced The Massage Therapy Act. This legislation will establish the Saskatchewan College of Massage Therapy, a new regulatory body that will govern massage therapists in the province.
The Act will help protect the public if there are instances of unethical or incompetent practitioners, and will provide title protection for massage therapists (only members of the College will be able to use certain professional titles such as massage therapist and registered massage therapist).
The Saskatchewan College of Massage Therapy will be established as a new stand-alone regulatory body, separate from any of the three existing associations - Massage Therapists Association of Saskatchewan (MTAS), Natural Health Practitioners of Canada (NHPC), and Canadian Massage and Manual Osteopathic Therapists Association (CCMOTA), which will continue to exist as advocacy organizations for the profession, similar to the Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA) for physicians.
Once established, the new regulatory body will develop competency and practice standards, a code of ethics and an investigation/discipline process for the profession.
The Massage Therapy Act has received strong support from individual massage therapy practitioners and the three massage therapy associations.
The Massage Therapy Act will come into force by order of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.