As a health regulatory college under the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991, the College of Massage Therapists of Ontario (CMTO) is responsible for overseeing and regulating the profession in Ontario in the public interest and supporting high quality in the practice of Massage Therapy.

Today, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) announced it has laid charges against nine individuals, including one former and two current Registered Massage Therapists (RMTs), related to alleged activities they participated in at the now-defunct Royal Institute of Science and Management (RISM), an organization that operated a Massage Therapy program under Ontario’s Private Career Colleges Act until the Ministry of Colleges and Universities revoked its registration on July 30, 2015.

Prior to the Ministry’s revocation in 2015, CMTO investigated the conduct of Mr. Ye (Parker) Liu. Mr. Liu ultimately surrendered his Certificate of Registration and in doing so admitted that he: “organized the harvesting and exchange of examination content from the College’s licensing examinations”.  Mr. Liu was an instructor at RISM and is now one of the individuals charged by the OPP.

CMTO has been assisting the OPP in its investigation.

CMTO is taking these charges very seriously. The College has initiated its own investigation into the allegations contained in these charges and has enlisted the support of two advisors with significant regulatory expertise, Deanna Williams and Michael Salvatori, to inform our investigation and any additional actions or measures that may be taken to protect the public interest.

Ms. Williams has previously served as Registrar of the Ontario College of Pharmacists; Minister-appointed Supervisor to the College of Denturists of Ontario, Risk Officer of the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority and as an Expert Technical Advisor to Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

Dr. Salvatori has served as Chief Executive Officer and Registrar of the Ontario College of Teachers, President of the board of directors for the Council on Licensure, Enforcement and Regulation (CLEAR) and a member of the Governance Task Force for the College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta.

CMTO looks forward to working with and supporting Deanna Williams and Michael Salvatori in this important investigation.

For more information, contact:

Angie Brennand
Director, Policy and Communications
College of Massage Therapists of Ontario
communications@cmto.com