Annual General Meeting 2017

Sunday, April 2nd, 2017
9:00 am - 12 noon
Ballroom B - Mezzanine level, Saskatoon Inn and Conference Centre, 2002 Airport Drive, Saskatoon

MISSION STATEMENT:
We exist to encourage and enhance the art, science and practice of massage therapy by maintaining a high standard of massage therapy; by establishing and maintaining the Massage Therapist Association of Saskatchewan, Inc. as a leading health professional association; by promoting health profession through education, accountability, communication and advocacy, and financial stability.

Plan to make your voice count by attending the 51st AGM at 9:00am on Sunday, April 2nd at the Saskatoon Inn.  This is your opportunity to assist the Board of Directors in setting our direction for the coming year.

RSVP is NOT required for this event - all members are welcome and you earn 3 business credits.

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2016 AGM Minutes

Click here to download the minutes from the 2016 AGM in Regina

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2017 AGM Agenda

Call to order (9:00 a.m.) – President Garret Woynarski

1.0 Housekeeping
2.0 Review/amend/adopt Agenda
3.0 Review/amend/adopt Minutes of AGM in Regina, April 3rd, 2016
4.0 Business arising from Minutes

Guest Speaker: Michael Desrochers, RMT

5.0 Director’s Reports:

     5.1 President – Garret Woynarski
     5.2 Vice President/Human Resources - Marles Kerns
     5.3 Treasurer – 
     5.4 Education/Exam – Mandy Fahr
     5.5 Insurance – Jordan Smith
     5.6 Complaints/Investigation – Gus Giannoutsos
     5.7 Membership/Public Relations – Camille Lapierre
     5.8 Competency – Aileen Tran Mapletoft
     5.9 Research – Donelda Gowan-Moody
     5.10 Executive Director – Lori Green
  

New Business:

6.0 Amendments to the Bylaws
7.0 Motions from the Membership
8.0 Report of the Nominating Committee – Marles Kerns
9.0 Elections
10.0 Date of next meeting: Regina - Sunday, April 8, 2018
11.0 Adjournment

2016 AGM Attendance List

Click here to download the attendance list from the 2016 AGM in Regina.

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Board of Directors' Reports

President - Garret Woynarski

Another productive year for MTAS was completed in 2016.  Legislation and Stakeholder meetings were at the forefront of our goals.  The President Updates provided to you throughout the year were intent on keeping you informed of the larger MTAS events.   

We awaited the outcome of the April provincial election, to see the Sask Party retain its position in Government.  I believe this to be of value as the Board of Directors have worked hard to establish and maintain relationships with the sitting Cabinet Ministers and MLAs.  A new Minister of Health, Jim Reiter was introduced in the Cabinet Shuffle, and Greg Ottenbreit remains Minister of Rural Health. 

Our Strategic Planning meetings were held in May with lots of insight and discussion around the next five years of growth and opportunity for MTAS.  MTAS as an association will have a reduced role and responsibility once Legislation occurs, therefore it is imperative we as the Board set a purposeful vision for success and sustainability. 

The Stakeholder meetings were dispersed throughout 2016.  Areas of consensus were reached, with other areas of disagreement remaining unresolved.  These meetings were costly in finance and human resource time, however we budgeted accordingly within the last six years to expect these expenditures.  Our facilitator Charmaine Panko graciously reduced her fee when necessary to ease the financial expenses. 

In September Lori Green, Marles Kerns and I attended the Canadian Massage Therapy Alliance (CMTA) meetings in Vancouver.  These meetings always provide tangible benefit to understand and learn from the successes and challenges other provincial associations encounter.  One of the break-out sessions was held at the franchise Massage Therapy establishment called Pain Pro.  Michael Desrochers is the humble CEO of seven franchise outlets, as we got to tour a clinic facility and get a deep understanding of his methodology in providing patient care and Therapist retention programs.  Mr. Desrochers will be speaking at our AGM in April and will provide an afternoon business seminar following our meeting. 

The CMTA has recently signed on with HEAL, or Organizations for Health Action (www.healthactionlobby.ca) .  There is a proposal before the federal Minister of Finance that extended health care benefits be taxed as a potential source of revenue to be used to balance the federal budget.  MTAS supports the CMTA in subscribing to the ongoing list of health professions that have partnered with HEAL to advocate on their behalf. 

MTAS continues to use the services of Harris Greenaway Communications for our communication and strategic vision in working towards Legislation.

The investments MTAS holds with Edward Jones are doing very well.  We have a very cautious investment risk and are happy with the 4-year average of 6.8% investment growth. 

I am happy to welcome Mieka Dueckman as our new Chief Examiner.  Thank you, Cassandra Exner-Williams for your many years of service to MTAS.  It is appreciated.

I would also like to welcome Cecilia Mryglod to the Board of Directors as the new Finance Chair.  Cecilia brings a wealth of finance related knowledge to our Board.  I would like to thank Robin Claus for your time on the Board of Directors as Finance Chair. 

To the departing  Board members, Gus Giannoutsos and Kendra Pottage; a sincere thank you for your volunteer time and commitment, vision, networking skills and diplomacy.  The role of a Board member is both challenging and rewarding, and you have handled it with class. 

This is my final address as President of MTAS, as Marles Kerns will eagerly take over the President role.  I know Marles will do a fine, astute job.   I have spent six years on the Board of Directors as an assertive Legislation Chair, having taken over from the insightful and teaching reigns of Jessica Green.  I remember vividly, my first MTAS strategic planning meeting in 2010, as a Legislation co-chair with Jessica, getting briefed on what we achieved thus far, the hurdles the Legislation process has encountered and where the vision is directed.  Call it naive, or call it unrelenting determination, I knew Legislation was a must for Saskatchewan and I genuinely felt at that moment it was boldly achievable. 

Being President of a Board of Directors you quickly learn tact and patience.  The Board speaks with one voice and voting consensus is the name of the game.  It is nice to operate in this team environment where the mutual support is appreciated.  I sincerely thank every Board member for your volunteer contribution as I have learned greatly from each of you.  Having a diverse Board team is advantageous to represent the membership base we have been elected to represent. 

I am thankful for this Presidential experience and the symmetry created with each Board of Director and our Executive Director Lori Green.  Lori has the profession experience, networking contacts, vision, diplomacy and understanding to keep MTAS thriving in partnership with the Board of Directors. I appreciate having the opportunity to have represented our association in front of you the member, in the Legislature in front of MLAs, Cabinet Ministers, caucus committees, election candidates, the Ministry of Health Analysts and the Premier. 

Your profession is moving in a positive direction, but don’t ever assume it is easy or take it for granted.  For the moment, our association leaders take their finger off the pulse of the national insurance scene, provincial political and legal arena and inter-jurisdictional events, we will fall behind.  I encourage you to become a stronger advocate for your profession.  The public of Saskatchewan and related health professionals value and highly respect you as an RMT. 

It’s been a pleasure.  
Sincerely,

Garret Woynarski, RMT, D.Ac, ACC

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Vice President/President Elect/Human Resource/Executive Report - Marles Kerns

2016 was a very busy, fast paced, and informative year with an impressive learning curve.  I had the opportunity to attend Stakeholder meetings throughout the year to discuss how to move forward in our bid for legislation.  We made much headway as we reached many areas of agreement, and conceded that sometime groups as diverse as ours can’t agree on everything.  I foresee 2017 to be an equally as informative and exciting year.

Our strategic planning session in May was a very positive and progressive meeting.  We focused on how MTAS will evolve once legislation occurs.  We envisioned what MTAS’s role would be in the process of member transition into the College, and what will then be the role of MTAS as our Association.  We look forward to our focus shifting entirely to membership services and support.

September saw Lori Green, Garret Woynarski, and I at the CMTA (Canadian Massage Therapy Alliance) annual meeting.  This is a national meeting where a majority of our provinces are represented.  It is a great platform to promote discussion about the triumphs and challenges massage therapy faces in both regulated and non-regulated provinces, and how we can use this collective knowledge to move forward as an organization and into legislation.

As Vice President and Human Resources Chair I also attended many meetings at our head office in Saskatoon with our Executive Director, Lori Green.  Many hours were spent doing things like writing and reviewing policies and by-laws, planning board meetings and sessions, generating and writing reports, and marketing strategies.

I thank-you for the opportunity to have represented our organization on the MTAS Board of Directors for the last 6 years. I have had the opportunity to participate in all areas of Board governance and this year as a shadow to the President duties, I am dedicated and enthusiastic to continue on the Board as your President.

Marles L. Kerns, RMT  

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Education - Mandy Fahr
Welcome and congratulations to all the new MTAS members.  For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Mandy Fahr.  I have been a practicing member for almost 7 years now.  I am currently in my 3rd year as the Education chairperson and I look forward to continuing my duties for this upcoming year. 

I would like to start off by saying a big thank you to Cassandra Exner-Williams, who was our Chief Examiner for 5 and 1/2 years.  Thank you for all your time and effort put into changing the practical exam process and making it what it is today.  We appreciate all you have done while being our CEX.

Secondly, I would like to welcome Mieka Dueckman as our new Chief Examiner.  Since taking the position, I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside Mieka and I’m excited to see what the upcoming year holds.  She is a wonderful person and I believe she will do great things in the upcoming year as our CEX.

In June I was able to audit the examination sitting in Regina.  It was good to be able to see how the exam process was run from start to finish.  I am happy to report that the changes that have been made to the examination process over the past few years are great.  I look forward to seeing how the changes made continue to provide a positive experience for all; the candidates, examiners and the CEX.

There has been a change made to the annual MQE examination schedule.  We will now be holding 2 examinations per year.  We will hold an exam in January and June, with a rewrite session being held in August.  We will be rotating between both Regina and Saskatoon annually for our June examination.  With fewer examinations per year we are looking forward to having all of our examiners involved with our examinations.

I would like to welcome our new examiners.  The call was put out for new examiners to add to our pool of current examiners and you all put forth your names.  Thank you for stepping up to the task.

The education and examination committees, along with Lori and Jayne, held a consultation meeting in person and via teleconference with our new and existing examiners.  It was nice to be able to introduce Mieka (CEX) and to meet the new examiners.   We were able to bring forth the changes to the exam schedule and we were able to talk about questions or concerns that they had.  I found it helpful to hear directly from the examiners what their individual concerns were and how things could possibly be changed.  I’m looking forward to working more closely with the examiners and the examination process.

In October, I, along with Mieka, Lori and Jayne, had the pleasure to meet with our Psychometrician, Ron Templeman.  He showed us how he inputs all our questions and data into his system and how he generates exams.  Although I will never be able to grasp exactly how everything is done behind the scenes, I am confident to say that Ron is doing an amazing job for us.

This past year facilitation of the U of S cadaver labs has been taken over by Aileen Tran-Mapletoft.  I am sad to pass on this role; however, the facilitation role is best suited under the umbrella of the Competency Chair.

In the year ahead I look forward to focusing on exams, examiner training and meeting with the schools.

Mandy Fahr, RMT

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Past Chief-Examiner - Cassandra Exner Williams
After a rewarding, educational and enlightening 5 and half years, I have had to step down as Chief Examiner.

I would like to thank Lori Green, Don Wickstrom, Aileen Tran-Mapletoft, the MTAS Board and all of my past and present examiners. A very special thanks to Jayne Little for all the work she did and still does.

I firmly believe in the purpose of a basic competency exam and worked hard with others to make sure our exam is shows the efficacy, competency and safety of candidates. I am excited to see the direction the exam will now take under the guidance of Mieka Duekman, and in the future with legislation.

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Insurance/Intergovernmental Affairs - Jordan Smith

Greetings to all our members and a sincere welcome to our new members that have recently joined us.

2016 has been a year filled with a lot of transitions and changes to say the least. It is sad to have Garret, Gus, Kendra and Robin step down from the board, but ask anyone on the board - it can be a very consuming endeavour to say the least.  I wish to thank each and every one of them for their time spent and service helping move MTAS forward, and sitting alongside them I can say, I personally have grown with time on the board.

2016 has been an overall quiet year in terms of any major issues within the SGI and WCB realm of treating.  There have been no major issues brought forth and we seem to have sorted out some wrinkles along the way.

One situation I do wish to address is there still seems to be (at times) a bit of a delay when we are sending in an authorization to treat form with new WCB patients.  When we fill these forms in, it is important to not just fill in correctly with the name and professional designation of the referring primary care giver, but to also include any written documentation from said primary care givers you may have received.

Earlier in the year, Lori Green and myself had an opportunity to meet with Blue Cross here in Saskatoon and present some concerns from our members.  One area we discussed was the rural members and issues with coverage from the insured member (relative treating a relative and so fourth).  Or how some Blue Cross plans cover 100% of the treatment and others do not.  What was taken away from that meeting was that plan is differently medically underwritten and that is why we see differences from one patient to the other.  We do our best to answer any of these concerns with Blue Cross specifically.  Please do not hesitate to contact them directly as they have the information readily available should there be any problems moving forward. 

With our liability insurance being through Dusyk & Barlow many members are not aware that they also provide a secondary insurance available to MTAS members at the rate of $100.00 per year.  This Insurance acts as an accident insurance 24 hours a day anywhere in the world, whether travelling for business or pleasure.  As MTAS obtains more information regarding the accident insurance we will be very pleased to pass that information to our membership.

In conclusion, I can not express my gratitude to Lori and Jayne for their tireless ethic and motivation to keep everyone moving in the right direction.  They are always there when I have questions myself and I can’t say thank you enough to both of them.  I don’t know what I would do at times without both of you!

To my fellow Board of Directors, this past year I have seen us grow and continue moving forward despite many times we may have become frustrated and felt deflated.  It is our dedication to our members, to massage therapy as a profession and working to reach a common goal that allows us to be where we are today.

To Mandy and Aileen, it is always an honour to help facilitate the cadaver labs.

Respectfully written and submitted,

Jordan R. Smith RMT

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Complaints and Investigation - Gus Giannoutsos

Greetings to all MTAS Members,
To say this past year has been a busy one would be an understatement. The Board has shown great focus and determination to the challenges it has faced in 2016. 

There has been numerous complaints this year pertaining to our members. While most were handled quite easily, our most serious complaint is before the court. Two complainants have come forward up until now with possibility of more that have yet to file a complaint. We are currently waiting for a court date once all the information is in. 

I would like to take this final opportunity to remind everyone to protect yourself, your clients and your Association by educating yourself on our Bylaws.  If you have any questions or concerns please contact the office. 

I would like to thank my fellow Board of Directors,past and present for all their support, guidance and sharing their knowledge and experience with me these last 7 years. Thank you to Lori and Jayne for all that you do on a consistent basis. Your dedication to the Association is remarkable! 

Finally thank you to the membership for trusting in me to represent you these past 7 years. It's been quite an educational journey that I believe everyone at some point in their career should experience. 

Thanks again,

Gus Giannoutsos 
Complaints and Investigations Chair 

P.S. Be good!!

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Membership/Public Relations - Camille Lapierre

Hello to all my fellow members,

It has been a pleasure once again to serve the membership as your public relations and membership chair.  Our membership sits at 853 strong!  There were many opportunities for personal and professional growth this year and the current Board of Directors, Executive Director and Member Services Manager were key components in helping me steer through several learning curves.

I would like to first of all thank all of you who attended the MTAS 50th luncheon celebration!  The hard work paid off and I look forward to MTAS’s next milestone.

Our strategic planning for 2016-2017 revealed a need to geographically reach out to our membership to inform you and get your input on the current legislation process.  The RMT’s from Yorkton and from as far as an hour radius, met us in Yorkton for our first town hall meeting.  We were fortunate to have Mr. Warren Kaeding, MLA for Melville-Saltcoats present who could hear firsthand our questions and concerns.

The June sitting for the Board exams consisted of 2 long days for all involved.  Thank you again to the members who sit as examiners, to Cassandra Exner-Williams for her contribution as Chief Examiner and Jayne Little for handling all of the logistics.  We are seeing a very positive higher percentage of students writing our member qualifying exam; in fact, January 2017 marks the first exam sitting where an entire graduating class challenged the member qualifying exam.  The students Lori Green and I have met this past year impressed us with their enthusiasm and great questions about the profession.

Brown bag lunches information sessions were again offered this past year at the MTAS office.  These noon hour presentations were well appreciated and we plan on covering more subjects in the year to come.

The Saskatoon Teacher’s Association held their annual tradeshow and convention on November 14th, 2016.  Lori Green and I tended the MTAS booth at the tradeshow with our legislation petitions in hand and were able to educate many attendees and gather a considerable amount of signatures.

We again had the unfortunate media attention regarding one of our members.  Lori Green handled the flood of media interview requests very professionally and I humbly contributed a response with the French media.

I will be submitting my name to sit on the Board for another 2 year term.  These are exciting times within the MTAS organization and I couldn’t be more proud of its achievements.

Thank you,

Camille Lapierre, RMT

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Competency/Continuing Education - Aileen Tran Mapletoft

Happy New Year to Everyone!

Welcome to all new members and board members. My name is Aileen Tran Mapletoft. I have been a practicing member for almost 12 years now. I am now in my 6th year as the Competency and Con Ed chairperson and I look forward to continuing my duties for this upcoming term.

This past year, we evaluated just over sixty courses – totalling over 800 credits – which have now been added into our con-ed course database.

Over the past several years I have come to the realization that concepts learned during my post-secondary years in massage therapy have changed as science and technology evolves. Navigating through all this new information is a daunting task but somehow we do it, with intense enthusiasm, nevertheless. I am always in awe to see our therapists continually step up and take on these challenges head on – through research, through improved education, through professional practice group participations, and through sheer dedication to our profession. As we head into 2017, you may notice that there will be continued talks of massage therapy within a biopsychosocial framework; pain science is also coming in strong amongst the massage and manual therapy communities. On the technology side, there is continued interest in improving marketing and networking skills through use of popular social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, etc. There are so many interesting topics out there for us to digest! Continued education can definitely give you better insights into topics that you enjoy. Furthermore, attending con-ed classes gives you the opportunity to socialize with other like-minded therapists. All you need is 40 con-ed credits per three-year window to keep in good standing so go ahead and get that new skill you’ve always wanted to have.

As always, we are interested in hearing suggestions from the membership. If there are any courses out there that sound exciting, interesting, important, etc. please do not hesitate to send me or the MTAS office more information. As with the previous years, we will work hard to bring in more high quality workshops and seminars to Saskatchewan. Please encourage all your colleagues to attend these workshops when they do come into our province – it is an extremely valuable experience for RMTs. Subsequently, high attendance may also mean that other course providers and organizations outside of Saskatchewan would more likely WANT to come into our province to collaborate with us. If there are any new or current members who are also interested in being a part of the Continuing Education Committee while gaining some credits, please contact me (atm.erindale@outlook.com).

Lastly, super huge thanks to the Con Ed Committee members (Lara Brierley, Jordan Smith) for their time and input this past term. And thank you to Jayne, Lori, and the rest of the board for another great year.

Thank you again for all your support!

Sincerely,

Aileen Tran Mapletoft, RMT

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Research - Donelda Gowan-Moody

Dear Colleagues,

The two main initiatives for the MTAS Research Directorship for the past year were:

1) The creation of a clear financial structure for the MTAS research budget of revenues and expenses in order to aid decision making on how to optimize the MTAS membership allocated funds for research. 

2) the planning and establishment of the  Canadian Massage Therapy Research Foundation.

The MTAS's accountants are working on developing the allocated funds into an actual fund within the organization. This is currently underway.

The planning and establishment of the Canadian Foundation appears to have stalled. The intention has been a collaboration between MTAS and RMTBC whereby the Foundation would serve as a massage therapy specific organization housing a massage therapy specific research funder. There has been one face-to-face meeting in the past year between myself and the head of the RMTBC Research Department with discussion on how to move forward, but no forward movement has occurred. It seems prudent at this time to make alternative plans for the MTAS funds that members have allocated to research.

Prior to meeting with RMTBC research staff, I attended the 37th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Canadian Pain Society from May 24-27th in Vancouver, BC. I presented a poster on pain-related adverse outcomes from massage therapy with financial support from MTAS, the University of Saskatchewan, College of Medicine and the College of Massage Therapist of Ontario - Massage Therapy Research Fund grant money. Knowledge transfer and translation activities such as these that promote MTAS as a leading research-aware Canadian massage therapy organization has had some interesting consequences: for example there are leaders in pain management practice now actively considering how to best include massage therapy as a novel non-pharmacological treatment intervention within their institutions. I also attended and did a poster presentation at the International Congress on Integrative Medicine (ICIMH) with additional funding in the form of a scholarship from the ICIMH. MTAS was gratefully acknowledged on the poster for both occasions.

Considerable forward momentum and success has been achieved in the last year in my role as MTAS knowledge transfer and translation agent locally. There have been unique opportunities to  leverage the MTAS research Chair portfolio to engage with other Provincial health care professionals, researchers and policy makers. Promoting massage therapy including research, education, clinical experience and policy development with stakeholders and potential allies has been exciting and fruitful.

For clarity, knowledge translation is about "making users aware of knowledge and facilitating their use of it; closing the gap between what we know and what we do; and moving knowledge into action and "is about transferring good ideas, research results and skills between universities, other research organizations, business and the wider community to enable innovative new products and services to be developed1

I represented MTAS at the 6th Conference on Implementing Best Practices for Pain Management in Saskatchewan where we had a booth and offered MTAS literature to delegates as one of the conference sponsors. The overall goal of the conference was "to highlight best practices in pain management from both health professional and client perspectives. This provincial conference began as a nursing initiative and has since evolved into an interprofessional commitment to advancing pain education for disciplines across the continuum of care".

Additionally I was invited to be a participant in the  Provincial Pain Strategy Steering Group Meeting held in conjunction with the conference. The objective was to identify strategies, processes and resources that could support establishment of working groups based on the four pillars – Research and Knowledge Translation, Education, Practice, and a Provincial Pain Foundation. There were Saskatchewan Ministry of Health representatives at the meeting and networking offered excellent opportunities for MTAS to be visible and viable as an included party at the table in scholarship, practice and politics in Saskatchewan.

There were no specific activities in the past year serving the goal of promoting research literacy and capacity of MTAS members - activities such as the Research Symposium and Journal Club were unavailable to members this past year.  These activities require intensive time in planning and executing and are challenging within the scope of a volunteer role.

I have served for four years as the MTAS Research Director and I look forward to continuing.

Respectfully submitted,

Donelda Gowan-Moody, RMT, MSc, PhD Candidate

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Executive Director - Lori Green

It is with great optimism that I submit my Annual report to the membership.  How quickly the time has gone by over the past twelve months. 

Myself, Jayne and the Board of Directors have been extremely busy this year.  Legislation has been a key element, and my directive has been to continue to work diligently towards our mandate of achieving Legislation in the Province of Saskatchewan.

Once again, the Board started off our year, with the Strategic Planning meeting in May.  This mandatory meeting requires the Board members to make time from their busy work and family schedules for an entire weekend to plan for the future, evaluate the past and move forward to advancing the profession of massage. Our reccurring theme on this weekend in May, “A goal without a plan is just a dream.” I am thankful that MTAS is a strong Board that possess flexibility and willing to address change while maintaining our support for the National competencies and performance Indicators as determined by our Canadian regulators (FOMTRAC).  

A great deal of meetings and discussion took place over the year between MTAS, NHPCA, LCSP, RMTA, and Saskatchewan massage therapy schools on what the future of a legislated massage therapist would look like in our province.  The group was brought together to discuss the Ministry of Health draft legislation for regulation and the implementation of the SCMT, Saskatchewan College of Massage Therapy.  We have managed to achieve consensus of many matters regarding legislation. Consensus on automatic transition and the qualification and competency requirements to obtain RMT status immediately has not yet been agreed to.

MTAS continues to advocate on behalf our membership this year.   We continue to advertise through talk radio across the province, participated in six “Talk to the Experts” radio programs and ventured out to the local stations (13) through Golden West radio. (Swift Current, Rosetown, Yorkton, Wynyard). We resumed and continued to be the voice of massage therapy when issues arise in the province that connect to the profession.  Although the topics are sometimes highlights of events that we would rather not see, it allows us through small soundbites, the opportunity to speak on our goals and the need for Legislation, and how our therapists can aid in the health and wellness of Saskatchewan residents.  We provided radio interviews with CBC French thanks to Camille Lapierre, and Guy Loiselle fluency in our French language. Direct West has filmed a video advertisement that features two of our members Jordan Smith (Board) and Sherry Strachan (MTAS member) for all of those who search for information on MTAS.

MTAS was very proud to be asked by the Saskatchewan Public Service Commission to aid in the healing and health of residents in Laloche tragedy, January 2016.  Thank you to Kristen Lamond, who volunteered to go to Laloche and provide massage therapy in the saddest of situations to those in need.

The Association participated at the SUMA (Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association), WCRMT career day, provided information to PIMT and McKay to students on the value of membership with MTAS. We also began to talk to the members and interested participants throughout the province.  Thank you, Yorkton and surrounding area for allowing us to pilot our round-table meetings with you.  Your enthusiasm and insight will enable us to fine tune our presentation throughout the province in this new fiscal year.

I have completed my time as a founding member on the Canadian Massage Therapy for Accreditation Council (CMTCA), I am still active as part of the Management Committee for the CMTA in consultation with this Board.  MTAS supported this endeavour financially this year and will evaluating further participation as they move further and update us on their process.

I continue to represent the CMTA as the Insurance Chair and Vice President of the Alliance.  This year, we saw the merging of the CHCAA into CLHIA at the conference in Edmonton.  This group continues to deal with the challenge of recognition with the benefit providers.  The county coming together with national standards and legislation for all will be the only prescription for alleviating the pressure of legal massage therapy definitions. 

Jayne and I continue to manage the day-to-day operations and are constantly reminded of our value by the membership.  We thank you for your kind words, and visits throughout the year.  I will continue to write this annually for the record, as I don’t think we can say it enough, how lucky we are to have someone like Jayne handling the membership portfolio so efficiently as well as arranging all of the logistics of our workshops.  Jayne, you are pivotal to the day to day activities of MTAS members, your ability to adapt to the ever-changing situations and make it look easy is remarkable.  I value our working relationship immensely.

In my line of work, I have opportunity to work with interesting, articulate and diverse personalities for months and if lucky, years, as Board members.  The past three years I have worked with the same group of individuals, and now it is time for some to move on.  I would like to thank the always calm and professional Garret for you ever present leadership you have managed to maintain a very high presence of massage therapy in the eyes of the Government and raise the bar in communication to the membership, Kendra Pottage (Secretary) we will miss your smiling face and calm demeanor, your ability to make sense of discussions at the Board table and transform them into  minutes will be missed, and Gus Giannoutsos, truly an unsung hero for the Board and membership.  As Complaints and Investigation Chair, there is never much public information that can be shared, but we certainly have valued your hard work behind the scenes.  Robin Claus left the Board earlier this year, but I thank her for her dedication to the Finance chair position.  I have no doubt that these members of MTAS will continue as our leaders and as our peer support in the future.

I look forward to working with the new nominees of MTAS and continuing with Marles Kerns (President-elect), Camille Lapierre (Vice-President elect), Aileen Tran Mapletoft (Competency), Jordan Smith (Insurance), Mandy Fahr, (Education), Donelda Gowan-Moody (Research) and Cecilia Mryglod (interim finance).  I am sure that this year will continue to be another successful one and historical event for massage in our province, that being legislation introduced.

Bravo to all our members who have participated in our workshops, committees, meetings and Association - it is because of you that we continue to be an influential partner to many and recognized not only in Saskatchewan but Canada for the expertise of our members.

Humbly,

Lori Green

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Nominations Committee – Marles Kerns, Vice President

The 2015-2016 MTAS Board of Directors consisted of 10 members. 

Current board members who will be returning are as follows:
Jordan Smith - Insurance
Mandy Fahr -  Education

Current Board members who will be asking for re-election:
Marles Kerns – President Elect
Camille Lapierre – Vice President – Elect
Aileen Tran Mapletoft – Competency Chair
Cecilia Mryglod – Appointed Finance
Donelda Gowan – Moody – Research (2012 – 2017)

Board members who are retiring this year:
Garret Woynarski – President (2011 – 2017)
Kendra Pottage – Secretary (2012-2017)
Gus Giannoutsos – Complaints and Investigation (2011 – 2017)
Robin Claus - Finance (2014 – 2016)

The Board of Directors slate is at maximum of 10 members with 2 returning to complete their term and 5 seeking re-election.  Nominations may be called from the floor at the Annual General Meeting or submitted to the office by 12:00 noon on March 31st, 2017.

The Board is pleased to present a slate of four interested individuals who have agreed to let their name stand for a position on the Board for the 2017-2018.  This would provide a full complement of Board members. We have also included Cecilia Mryglod’s resume as she was appointed in fall of this year.

Nominee’s to the Board of Directors, MTAS

Cecilia Mryglod, RMT:  Finance Chair
MTAS Member since 2009 – graduated with honors
Mobile massage therapist
Administrative Assistant Diploma
Administrative Assistant of the Year Award

Current Employment:
Full-time position as office manager, payroll, accounting, multiple budgets, communications and human resources.

Past Experience:
Working in Massage Therapy
Payroll officer and staff scheduler

Special Interests:
Non-profit sector, organizing events.

Tim Rutley, RMT
MTAS Member 2006 - graduated with honours
Self-employed Massage Therapist at FIT -  Saskatoon
Deep Tissue Therapeutic Massage

Interested in:  Public Relations

Experience:
Facilitation with Youth Groups
Boards
Travel
Games or all types

Erin Sobkow, RMT
Graduated Massage Therapy 1999
MTAS member since 2013
Self-employed Massage Therapist – Yorkton
BA Kinesiology with English

Interested in:
Passionate about obtaining legislation in our province
Research
Education of patients and the public on the benefits of Massage Therapy.

Experience:
Massage Therapist in Manitoba (MTAM) 13 years
Teacher of First Aid/AED/CPR
Yoga class instructor
Community Consultant for the Parkland Valley Sport, Culture and Recreation District
Organizing the Yorkton Kalyna Ukranian Dance Competition.

Robert Kilmer, RMT
Graduated Massage Therapy  2007
MTAS member since 2017
Employed in a Chiropractic Clinic - Saskatoon
CMTO/RMTAO Member since 2008

Interested in:
Helping people with stress, tension, and other health concerns
Culinary interests
Biking, walking
Weekly exercise including strength training and stretching.

We encourage members who are interested in running for the Board to view Board nominee package as distributed in the pre-AGM mail out to the membership for reference of skills and attributes required.  Also, feel free to contact the Executive Director or myself to discuss Board work.

Bylaws

3.1 Number and Term of Board Members   

The Board shall consist of not less than five (5) Board members, four (4) of whom shall also be the officers of the Association and no more than ten (10) Board members.  Subject to the Act and the Articles, the Members may, by ordinary resolution passed at an annual general meeting, increase the number of Board members. Each Board Member or Officer (herein collectively referred to as “Board Members”) shall hold office for a term of two (2) years commencing on the date of election. The offices of the Association shall be President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Past-President. The Board of Board members at the first meeting of the Board shall choose the President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer. The first board meeting will occur after the Annual General Meeting.  Notwithstanding Section 3.3, the Member who held the office of President of the Association for the term of office immediately prior to an annual general meeting at which a new President is elected shall, if willing to do so, continue to act as a Director/Officer of the Association, without election by the Members, for the next ensuing term of office and shall hold the office of Past President.

3.2 Eligibility for Election 

Any practicing Member or Non-resident Practicing Member with voting rights, in good standing, with the exception of an owner or operator of a massage therapy training school, or director of another massage therapy association, who is qualified to act as a director pursuant to the Act shall be eligible for election to the Board. A retiring Board Member shall be eligible for re-election.

3.3 Election at Annual General Meeting

At each annual general meeting of the Association, the Members shall elect Board Members to fill the vacant board positions. Each Board Member that has served for the immediately preceding term shall retire at the dissolution or adjournment of the annual general meeting and the Members entitled to vote thereat shall elect Board Members to replace such retiring Board Members. The Member who held the position of President immediately prior to the election of a new Board at an annual general meeting shall be deemed to have been elected as a Board Member of the Association and shall hold the office of Past-President.   

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Financial Statements

Click here to download the audited financial statements for 2016

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Bylaw Amendments

Amendment 1

11.5 Membership Fees and Annual Dues:

Motion to raise the membership fees by $10.00 per MTAS member for contribution of a MTAS Compassionate Fund.  The fund will be restricted and audited as a separate account.  The Committee will meet at arms length from the MTAS Board of Directors, and submit their decisions on a quarterly basis.  The fund will not exceed more than $25,000.00 without full consultation with the MTAS membership.

Move: Marles Kerns    Second: Camille Lapierre

The RMT Compassionate Fund:  Outline
This fund is established to provide immediate short-term aid in a time of crisis.  MTAS members who are practicing or non-practicing may receive up to a maximum of $500.00 in assistance in a given fiscal year. (November 1 – October 31).  Requests are considered by an arms-length membership committee of MTAS with the Executive Director sitting ex-officio.

All requests for assistance must be in writing and include a letter outlining the need, and the amount of funds requested.  Verification must be included with the application.  (Health or legal professionals, family counselors and advisors).  Assistance letters may be written on behalf of the RMT in need but must contain the appropriate information requested.

Examples of compassionate need are included below but not limited to:

• Health-related issue for a member (this includes mental health issues, wellness and addiction).
• Illness of an immediate family member. 
• Legal crisis.
• Family disruption.

All requests are dealt with in the utmost confidence.

A report will be provided with the financial audit at each Annual General Meeting of the membership with the amount allocated and the number of members that have benefited. The names of those members will be held in strict confidence.

The designated funds will be held as a dedicated line item of the membership budget and not be dispersed for any other purpose without two-thirds in favour from the members at the Annual General Meeting.

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Motions from Members

At the time of publishing, there were no motions from the membership.

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AGM Forms

Here are the forms you may need before the AGM:

1. Motions form - click here.
2. Proxy voting form - click here.
3. Nomination form - click here.

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