Changes to the 2010 Renewal

Changes to Renewal Form – Important!

There are some important changes this year including a longer, more detailed renewal form. Members will need to allow extra time to complete the form. Other changes include a reduced “intent to suspend” notice period from 60 to 30 days and new self-reporting regulations. These changes are mandated by the Regulated Health Professions Act (RHPA), 1991, under Sections 36.1, 24 and 85.6.1, respectively. You may click here to go to the Mandatory Reporting section on this website to read more about self-reporting changes. 

For the 2010 renewal process, all Ontario health regulatory Colleges are required to collect additional demographic, educational and employment information as part of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s Health Professions Database Project and under Section 36.1 of the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 (RHPA).  Click here for more information.

By law, you are required to provide the information requested on the renewal form under the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991. Under section 36.1, the Ministry can request that regulatory Colleges collect information from their members and provide this information to the Ministry.  All Ontario regulated health professionals are providing similar information. It is important to fill in the information carefully and completely. All Ontario regulated health professionals are providing similar information to their Colleges for the Ministry. The new information required by the ministry was developed and standardized across all regulated health professions. Please read the questions and definitions carefully and refer to the online user guide so that you are able to provide accurate data for your practice and the massage therapy profession. Any member data provided to the Ministry will not include your name or other identifying information. For a copy of the CMTO Privacy Code, click here

As part of this update, you will be asked to provide new information or confirm existing information so that the College has accurate information on file. Please allow extra time to complete the form. Although it will vary from member to member, the renewal form can take approximately 40-50 minutes to complete.

All members should read the FAQs to learn about the changes and how they will affect members, including why the information is being collected, how it will be used, and member privacy.

Change to Suspension Notification Period

Important Change to the Notice of Intent to Suspend period:

All General and Inactive Certificate holders must renew their registration for 2009 by midnight on December 31, 2009.

Reduced notice period this year. This year, the intent to suspend notice period is reduced from 60 to 30 days, reflecting a change to Section 24 of the Regulated Health Professions Act (1991).    Thus, members who fail to renew their registration by December 31^st will have only 30 days from the date of the suspension intent notice to submit renewal and late fees. After the 30 days, an additional $600 reinstatement fee will be levied. (In the past, members who did not complete their renewal by December 31^st received 60 days’ notice of intent to suspend for non-payment of fees and requirement to pay a $600 reinstatement fee).

Click here for the 2010 Renewal Guide.

Click here for tips to avoid problems with your renewal.

Renew Early to Win! Members who complete their online registration renewal by December 15, 2009 will be entered into a skill-testing contest to receive an Ipod Touch! Click here for contest rules.

District Election January 11, 2010

The date of the election for a member to the Council of the College of Massage Therapists of Ontario for Districts 3, 4 and District 8 has been set for January 11, 2010.

This election has been called according to By-Law No. 2, The Election of Members to the Council. Please refer to By-Law No. 2, The Election of Members to the Council, or view it on the website at http://www.cmto.com/regulations/bylaw.htm.

Election Process

All Massage Therapists, practising (General) or residing (Inactive) in Ontario, are eligible for election to the Council. On January 11, 2010, one representative from District 3, District 4 and one from District 8 will be elected to sit on the Council. Further details about the voting process will be sent to members.

"Electoral district of a member" or a "member’s electoral district" means the electoral district to which the member has been assigned in the Register of the College, and is the district in which the member principally practices, or, if the member holds an inactive certificate of registration, is the district in which the member principally resides.

Important Notice about District Realignments in 2009

The opportunity to serve on council and participate in the decision-making of the College is a key feature of the model of "self-regulation". Self- regulation is a privilege granted to the profession by the public of Ontario. Historically the College has had one of the smallest Councils in the health regulatory system. Knowing that amendments to the RHPA that would come into effect in June 2009 would create challenges for the College in having sufficient numbers of council members to form panels and decide matters, the College proposed to the government in 2007, that the size of council be increased from 5 public and 6 professional members for a total of 11 to 6 or 7 public members and 8 professional members for a total of 15 members.

In anticipation of this change to the Massage Therapy Act, 1991 at the council meeting in May 2009, Council approved an amendment to the By-Law No. 2, Election of Members to Council, with respect to the electoral boundaries in Ontario in order to create additional electoral districts.

Under By-Law No. 2, electoral districts are established for the purpose of the election of members of the profession to Council. The province is divided into electoral districts comprised of various counties. In order to create more seats on council for members of the profession, the electoral districts had to be re-configured and the boundaries redrawn. See the two tables below for an explanation of how the districts have been amended.

Only members in the following territorial districts, counties or municipalities are affected by this change: Simcoe, Waterloo, Hamilton-Wentworth, Brant, Haldimand-Norfolk, and Niagara.

Members in the following District/county/municipality have not had their district changed:

The following is the same breakdown of the affected electoral districts, but by district/county/municipality

Important Notice For Members in District 8

Section 5 of By-law No. 2 sets out the dates of elections and indicates that the election for the new District 8 will take place on January 11, 2010. Please note that although this election will take place, the elected member of District 8 will not be able to formally take their seat on council until the Massage Therapy Act has been amended by the government. The government has provided the College with assurances that this will be done by the end of the year.

Click on the links below for details:

The new electoral map

Voting procedures

Council Member’s Workload

Nomination Form

Roles and Responsibilities of the Council

Important Reminder about Addresses

It has come to the attention of the College that some members have provided the College with addresses in which the cities/towns have typos or are otherwise invalid. The College has corrected these town/city names. If you change your address information, please ensure your town/city is spelled correctly. The College’s systems are able to include a member in an upcoming election and send a member the election notice only if the member has provided an accurate town/city name.