Annual General Meeting 2019

Sunday, April 14th, 2019
9:00 am - 12 noon
Galaxy Ballroom A (main floor) - Travelodge Hotel, 106 Circle Drive West, 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 53rd AGM at 9:00am on Sunday, April 14th at the Travelodge in Saskatoon. 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 for attending the entire event.

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2018 AGM Minutes

Click here to download the minutes from the 2018 AGM in Regina.

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2019 AGM Agenda

Call to order (9:00 a.m.) – President Marles Kerns

1.0 Housekeeping
2.0 Review/amend/adopt Agenda
3.0 Review/amend/adopt Minutes of AGM in Regina - April 8th, 2018
4.0 Business arising from Minutes
5.0 Director’s Reports:

      5.1  President – Marles Kerns
      5.2  Vice President/Human Resources - Camille Lapierre
      5.3  Treasurer – Cecilia Mryglod
      5.4  Education/Exam – Mandy Fahr
      5.5  Intergovernmental Affairs – Jordan Smith
      5.6  Complaints/Investigation – Erin Sobkow
      5.7  Membership/Public Relations – Tim Rutley
      5.8  Competency – Aileen Tran Mapletoft
      5.9  Research – Dr. Donelda Gowan
     5.10 Executive Director – Lori Green
     5.11 CMTA Report - Lori Green
 
6.0 Honorary Member Presentation - Wilma Poole
Wilma has been a practicing massage therapist for the past 32 years.  She studied massage therapy at the Australasian College of Herbal Studies and graduated in 1987.  She had her own practice in New Zealand for two years before returning to Canada where she wrote the Saskatchewan licensing exams and opened a home-based business, allowing her to raise her four children.  Wilma is very much a family person and currently has eight grandchildren.  Wilma's continuing education and volunteering are intertwined throughout her lifelong journey as a registered massage therapist.  She is a volunteer extraordinaire, recently completing her 10th year as an MTAS examiner and is member of the Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce and Saskatoon Women's Network.  Wilma believes that self-care is so important - her words of wisdom to new therapists: "Make sure to take proper breaks from your practice - after every 6 weeks of full time practice, take a week off for yourself."  Wilma is a compassionate, knowledgeable, sympathetic, considerate and motivated person, highly dedicated to massage therapy in Saskatchewan.  She is truly worthy of this honour, and hopes to continue to treat people of all ages and from all walks of life for many more years.

New Business:

  7.0 Amendments to the Bylaws
  8.0 Motions from the Membership
  9.0 Report of the Nominating Committee – Camille Lapierre
10.0 Elections
11.0 CSMTA report - Monty Churchman
12.0 Date of next meeting: Regina - Sunday, March 29th, 2020
13.0 Adjournment

Refreshment break

Looking into the Future: Let's Chat - Marles Kerns

 

2018 AGM Attendance List

Click here to download the attendance list from the 2018 AGM in Regina.

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Board of Directors' Reports

President – Marles Kerns-Dyck

Once again we have had another very productive year promoting our profession, the organization, and our bid for legislation.  In January we were traveling throughout the province holding town hall meetings.  These were open meetings for MTAS members and the public to attend.  The purpose was to generate conversation, to gain feedback about challenges and successes you as a practitioner experience, and to openly discuss the facts and myths surrounding legislation of massage therapy in our province.  These were quite successful, and we plan to keep holding these types of meetings in the future. 

Strategic planning was held at the Saskatoon office in April, earlier than usual. We wanted to continue with the momentum of the magazine release and our revamped social media platform.  The focus of our strategic plan was to determine how we could get the government to revisit our bid for legislation.  It was here that we formulated the plan to send out the surveys, a whopping  41% of you answered!  The feedback was positive and informative reinforcing that we are on the right path regarding legislation and that there is overall confidence in the Board of Directors and the staff according to our respondents.   

Other initiatives that emerged from our strategic planning was to focus on stronger political connections with both the Sask Party and the NDP.  We have had several meetings with representatives from each party to relay the need for Regulation in this Province.  We recognized the importance and need for MTAS  to reconnect with the NHPC to move Legislation forward.  A meeting was held in Saskatoon in October 2018.  The outcome of this meeting was positive with some movement forward on sticking points that seemed impossible to overcome in the past.   We are planning another meeting soon to resume discussions, and we hope to be able to reconvene discussions with the Health Minister shortly. 

In September Lori and I attended the CMTA (Canadian Massage Therapist Alliance) annual meeting.  It is always a very beneficial gathering of our provincial representatives to discuss the challenges and successes that each province is facing.  Nationally we all are on the same page and want to continue advocacy on behalf of all provinces become Legislated to move our profession forward and ensure professionalism, standards of practice that comply with evidence-informed practices that massage therapy will be recognized as part of healthcare in all provinces.  Together we will be stronger.  The CMTA is very concerned with the new and growing practice of students doing their practicum as relaxation therapists in Massage Therapy businesses.  The result is the new National position of students working that can be found on our website or the CMTA website.  There is continued unanimous support for Massage Therapy to become a degree program.

In closing, I want to thank our Executive Director Lori Green for her hard work and dedication.  Lori has conducted herself with grace and professionalism especially when talking with the media and giving interviews surrounding the Donlevy case.  That is not an easy task.  I am also very thankful for our Membership Services Manager Jayne Little for her organizational skills and strong work ethic; she is integral in keeping our organization running smoothly.  Their insight, passion, and dedication to go above and beyond for our organization and profession is so very appreciated and does not go unnoticed.  I am grateful for our Board of Directors; this is a group of very dedicated people whom I enjoy working with immensely.  To you, the membership, it is an honor to be your President, I thank you for your trust and the opportunity that allows me to do this work on your behalf.   I am hopeful that we are turning another corner towards legislation and I do believe that we can see the finish line; for this, I am letting my name stand in my positions of President and Legislative Chair for another term.

Respectfully,

Marles L. Kerns-Dyck   

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Vice-president/Human Resources - Camille Lapierre

Hello fellow MTAS members and a warm welcome to all new members,

This has been my second year as your vice-president.  I am Camille Lapierre, RMT and proud member of MTAS for 21 years. Serving our MTAS members on the Board is a pleasure and I look forward to continuing to contribute to the best of my abilities.  I am in a mostly full time home-based practice and a volunteer Board member for 6 years.

The specific task assigned to me this year was to coordinate the Executive Director evaluation. The Google form format was updated and again well received. The MTAS Board continues overall to greatly appreciate and value our Executive Director Lori Green’s dedication to our profession. Lori has been consistent in meeting and exceeding our expectations.

I attended an evening hosted by MTAS, along with other Board members, to meet the RMT’s from the CMTA. Networking with fellow RMT’s from across Canada boosted our convictions to continue with our pursuit of legislation.  Upon their invitation, our Board met with the NHPC for an informal dinner with the purpose of getting to know each other and to move forward in our collaborations and discussions regarding legislation.

It has been an honour and pleasure to work alongside this amazing team.   A sincere thank you to all members for your tremendous support toward the initiatives MTAS has brought forth this year.

Respectfully submitted,

Camille Lapierre, RMT

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Finance - Cecilia Mryglod

I am pleased to have served another year on the MTAS board as Finance Chair. It has been another busy year and I am in awe of all the hard work the board has done this year.

We have completed our yearly audit with Stewart, Gee and Murray, it went smoothly with no issues. Lori and I also worked together to take on certain tasks with which we used to rely on the auditors to help.

I have nothing else to add to the financial statements as provided.  There are no major announcements or changes for this fiscal year in respect to budgets and membership fees.

I attended the meeting with a few members of the board and NHCP. It was a pretty successful meeting. I feel we get closer and closer to legislation all the time.

I look forward to working closely with Lori and the rest of the Board in the coming year.

Cecilia Mryglod, RMT

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Education - Mandy Fahr

Hello fellow MTAS members,

For those who may not know, my name is Mandy Fahr.  I’ve been a practicing member of MTAS since 2010 and on the Board of Directors as the Education chairperson for the past five years.  Thank you for your trust.

In the year ahead, I am looking forward to continuing the push for legislation (I think there’s a light at the end of this proverbial legislation tunnel).  I am also looking forward to facilitating a round table meeting with the four Saskatchewan Massage Therapy schools.

I would like to thank my fellow Board members.  You all have done an exceptional job this year and I am so honoured to work alongside such amazing people. I would also like say a huge thank you to both Lori and Jayne.  Our Association would not be what it is today without your knowledge and expertise.  Both of you work tirelessly in your respective jobs and your meticulous efforts do not go unnoticed.

Thank you to Mieka Dueckman, Chief Examiner, for all your work this past year.  You continue to make the examination process better and I look forward to working with you in the coming year.

In closing, I am currently looking for committee members; if anyone is interested, please let me know.

Respectfully,

Mandy Fahr, RMT

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Exam - Mieka Dueckman, Chief Examiner (CEX)

Hello fellow members of MTAS and welcome to this recap of our 2018 member qualifying exams (MQE).  This year has proven to be a great year for candidates mastering our exam!  39 candidates in total participated in our 2018 exams, with 25 mastering.  Congratulations on passing the exam and good luck to you as you start your journey as a registered massage therapist.

We continue to make positive changes to our exam to help keep our standards in line with the national standards as well as our goal for legislation.  In keeping with these goals, our exam was audited by an out-of-province inter-professional consultant who has also contributed to the subject matter regarding the Inter-Jurisdictional Performance Competencies and Practice Indicators (IJ PC/PI) document.  We have begun to implement some suggestions which have been a positive contribution to the integrity of our exam process.  I look forward to continuing this momentum in the coming year.

Over the past year we have had several meetings with our exam statistician and database developer, Ron Templeman to continue the evolution of this software. The system is now ready to use; it has been populated with our complete exam database of questions and has been set up so that we are able to enter new questions, edit existing questions and most importantly, add references to the aforementioned IJ PC/PI for each question. 

In 2018, we held three exam sittings - one each in January, June and  August.  This year our Regina June exam was held for the first time at The Queensbury Convention Centre.  The venue was amazing and allowed for plenty of room to facilitate our exam with ease.  We are looking forward to possibly utilizing this space again in June 2020.

Looking forward to 2019, we plan to train more examiners to keep up with the demand from candidates.  If you are interested in becoming an examiner, please feel free to ask me to add you to the list for our next training.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our examiners for contributing their time, energy and  knowledge to the MTAS exams.  If it wasn’t for you, this process would not be possible.  I value and appreciate you all.

Mieka Dueckman, RMT 

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Insurance and Intergovernmental Affairs - Jordan R. Smith

Good morning and thank you all for attending today. For those who have not been to an AGM yet, or to our new members, my name is Jordan R. Smith, and I have been a practicing RMT with MTAS since 2011. I have had the absolute pleasure of serving as Insurance and Intergovernmental Affairs Board Chair for the last five years, in addition to sitting on the Competency committee chaired by Aileen Tran Mapletoft.

Throughout the past year, we have worked with SGI and WCB to create policies and procedures documents for both, to assist our members with the proper procedure for claims.  Members have already received the SGI document by e-mail, but you may also download a copy here. We are still finalizing this information with WCB. 

I am also happy to report we have reached an agreement for a 10% increase over the next five years (2% per annum) with both organizations.

It has come to our attention that SGI and WCB are both using the same GST exemption number.  This is, in fact, correct.  We currently are advising all members dealing with SGI who make over $30,000.00 per annum to include GST in their billing.  WCB will remain GST exempt.

I look forward to serving you for the upcoming year alongside our returning Board members.

Thank you all for your time and for helping to make MTAS what it is today.

Jordan R. Smith RMT

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Competency and Continuing Education - Aileen Tran  Mapletoft                 

Greetings! 
Welcome to all new MTAS members. I’m Aileen and I have been a practicing member for almost 14 years. This was also my 8th year as the Competency and Con-Ed chairperson. It has been such a pleasure to work with every one of the numerous Board, staff, and committee members over the years and I can’t express enough gratitude towards these tremendously dedicated individuals – thank you all for your support and encouragement, I couldn’t have done it without you! I look forward to working with the new Competency chair as we start the new year and the new Con-Ed window with a bang. 

In review of 2018, I am happy to report that the Continuing Education committee was kept tremendously busy. The committee dedicated approximately 40 volunteer hours into evaluating 50 courses which totaled to almost 550 credits. What a great way to end the 2015-2018 con-ed window! Kudos to the hardworking Con-Ed Committee members (Lara Brierley, Jordan Smith, Dr. Bob Lidington, Dr. Donelda Gowan, Corey Schultz) for their time and expertise. Merci mille fois! 

Going into 2019, competency should continue to play a critical role in fostering high standards of ethical and professional practice. We hope to bring in more renowned, high-calibre educational opportunities that will help us remain current on topics of pain science, research, mental health, and other workshops that revolve around the patient-centred, biopsychosocial model of health care.  

As always, suggestions from the membership are most certainly welcomed. If there are any courses out there that sound exciting, interesting, important, etc., please do not hesitate in forwarding the information to the MTAS office. Also, please urge your colleagues to attend these workshops when they do come into our province – it truly is invaluable and is very worthwhile for us to work towards achieving greater inter-provincial and inter-disciplinary collaborations.  

Yours sincerely, 

Aileen Tran Mapletoft, RMT 

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Public Relations and Membership - Tim Rutley

Good morning to my fellow MTAS members!

It is hard to believe that 2018 has come and gone and I’m excited to see what 2019 brings.

Over the past year I have done four presentations for the second year students in the Saskatchewan massage schools. With each presentation I have noticed more of an interest from students wanting and excited to join our Association.  25 new graduates mastered the Member Qualifying Exam (MQE) in 2018, plus we added four new members from out of province. 35 members did not renew for 2019, so we had a net loss of 6 members. Most of those who chose not to renew were retiring, with some changing careers or moving out of province.

On the public relations side of things I attended the Health Wellness Week at Saskatchewan Polytechnic where we set up a trade show display. I did the same for two of the teachers’ conferences at TCU Place.  At all events we got a sense that the public thinks we are already legislated, and we had a great show of support for legislation.

Our affinity program is slowly coming along; so far we have:

• FIT Training and Wellness - 20% off personal training,
• Harden and Huyse Chocolates - starting at 10% off chocolates (the more we use it, the more our discount increases)
• GoodLife Fitness
• Highland Sports
• Freshii (Midtown location)
• Body-fuel Organics (Regina) - 10% off In store/online
• Perkopolis
• 3S Health (Formerly SAHO) - it is at the discretion of the hotels whether to give you the special rates

The most recent company we have reached out to is SHAW Cable.

I encourage you to support of this program.  MTAS continues to welcome your suggestions to make this list grow.  All of our partners will be posted on the website.   

Tim Rutley RMT, SMT(cc)

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Complaints and Investigation - Erin Sobkow

Dear fellow MTAS members:

I have been very honoured to sit on the MTAS Board with these hard-working fellow RMTs who care very much about the direction of massage therapy in Saskatchewan.  Lori Green, our Executive Director of 15 years, is a wealth of information always and her leadership and guidance to the Board, as well as to the membership, is invaluable.

Complaints and Investigation has again been a busy portfolio this year.  Below is a summary of the complaints and relevant Bylaw infractions:

2017.11.01	Bullying, yelling	11.7 Code of conduct: c, e, g, h,  11.8 (iii)
2017.11.07	Price gouging, out of scope,	Code of Ethics 11.7 (h) Standards of  Practice 11.8: (3) (4); c, (vii); 11.8 (d) (a)
2018.01.08	Standards of Practice
2018.07.02	Insurance company - RMT billing for no show appointments	Professional standards, ethics
2018.04.20	Slander, conduct unbecoming	Code of Ethics, Standards of Practice

In addition to the complaints listed above, we have sent one file to the Discipline Committee.  The member has been removed from MTAS due to a criminal conviction.  We have been advised through our legal council that the Discipline Committee will pursue the infractions against the MTAS bylaws with this individual.

MTAS has also noticed an increase in the public contacting the office with complaints about massage therapists from other Associations.  In this case, there is nothing we can do to assist the complainant, except to direct them to the other Associations.  Success in gaining regulation in our Province will rectify these concerns as a College of Massage Therapists of Saskatchewan would deal with all complaints in the Province.  It is unfortunate that patients or RMTs have legitimate complaints but are reluctant to lodge a formal complaint as they are reluctant to put their name on the complaint form.  Anonymous complaints are non-actionable.  This is the same process that the RCMP and City Police require in complaints. 

I want to remind everyone to read the MTAS bylaws and practice at all times with honesty, integrity and respect.  If you are a clinic owner, please model this professionalism to your staff.  Educate each other on what it means to be accountable as health care professionals. 

11.7 Code of Ethics (k)  Where a Member is aware and has proof of misconduct, breach of trust, violation or transgression of this Code of Ethics or Standards or Practice, it is his/her duty to bring such knowledge and written proof to the attention of the Board of the Association. 

I was fortunate to attend a two-day conference in Vancouver this past fall, where people from many different professions from across Canada, working in the complaints, investigations and discipline as part of their colleges, came together to share information, learn and hear about best practices in regards to regulation in Canada.   They all share similar concerns as we do in massage therapy.  This conference was very informative, and I brought back much information to share with Lori and the Board.

Lori and I spent one whole day recently reviewing all of the Complaints and Discipline bylaws and rewriting some of the bylaws.  We will bring forward some amendments to these bylaws at the 2019 AGM.   

If anyone has any questions, please don’t hesitate to call or email me.

Respectfully submitted,

Erin Sobkow  BA, RMT

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Research - Dr. Donelda Gowan

Dear Colleagues,

It has been a pleasure to serve in the role of MTAS Research Chair over the last year.

The two goals of the MTAS Research Chair in the past year were:

1. To promote research engagement between the MTAS organization and researchers through a) funding research projects and b) facilitating individual members participation in research projects, research-related learning opportunities, and evidence-based practice.
2. To advance and foster knowledge transfer or translation.

MTAS has allocated or dispensed financial support for two projects from the University of Saskatchewan.

Study Title: "Role of Individualized Intervention(s) on Quality of Life and Adherence to Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy in Premenopausal Women with Early-Stage Breast Cancer: MyChoice Study."

Research Team: Dr. S Ahmed is a breast cancer oncologist and a clinical scientist, Dr. Leis is an expert in QOL and complementary medicine, Ms. Dwernychuk is director of clinical research in the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency (SCA), Dr. Lim is a biostatistician and a clinical trial expert, Dr Kontulainen is an expert in exercise and women health, and Ms. Deb Bulych is director of supportive medicine in SCA, Dr. Gowan is a massage therapist and health services research expert.

Although combination endocrine therapy has been associated with significant reduction in risk of recurrence in younger women with hormone receptor positive breast cancer, it has been associated with more adverse effects and decline in quality of life (QOL). Various behavioral and complementary interventions can be effective in reducing treatment-related side effects. The study aims to evaluate if individually-tailored behavioral and complementary interventions could improve treatment tolerance and adherence in women with early stage breast cancer. This benefit will be assessed primarily by change in QOL and secondarily by adherence to adjuvant endocrine treatment. The researchers will begin recruiting women for the study soon and recruitment will take place over the next 12-24 months. There will be follow up with the women participating in the study 18 months post, so the study will run a total of 3.5 years.

Study Title: "Effects of Swedish massage on quality of life, sleep, stress, fatigue and biological markers levels in recently treated patients with breast cancer."

Principle Investigator (PI): Emiliana Bomfim, PhD (Candidate), Health Sciences Ph.D. Program, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan.
Supervisor: Dr. Kalyani Premkumar

Current Project Status from the investigators:

A total of 24 participants completed our 8-week Swedish massage program, and data collection was finalized in April 2018. Hence, the final sample for this study is 24, which is 16.6% more than the initial sample size proposed. A total of 96 sleep data records were already analyzed and scored. In regards to the self-reported evaluation scales used to analyze and quantify fatigue, stress and quality of life, a total of 288 scales were scored and tabulated in to the final dataset. Lab assays are currently being performed in a total of 1,152 samples in order to measure six biological markers. Once the laboratory assays are done statistical analysis of the data will proceed with subsequent final results report release. 

As part of our knowledge translation plan, we aim to share the results/findings from research undertaken with the general public and academic/professional communities in ways which are meaningful, change practice and transfer results/findings into health policy. Hence, knowledge translation plan for this project include small gatherings with all the patients who participated in this project, their families, massage therapists, support institutions and general public in order to deliver the final results of our project. We also plan small gatherings to occur at the Saskatoon Cancer Center more tailored to inform health professionals about our final results. We also plan to develop a website and brochures to inform the results. 

The main goal of our knowledge translation plan is to foster an environment that optimizes evidence-informed practice which in turn contributes to improving the health and well-being of individuals/patients, families and communities.

MTAS continues mutually beneficial support of research and knowledge translation.

A condition of receiving financial support from MTAS is that all research products (posters, PowerPoint presentations, published papers, etc.) must acknowledge the contribution of MTAS to the research. In this way, MTAS is noted to support research for the advancement of the profession. The knowledge created through research in turn serves the advancement of the field and the practice of RMTs.

More About Knowledge Translation

Wikepedia defines knowledge translation (KT) this way: knowledge translation is the umbrella term for all of the activities involved in moving research from the laboratory, the research journal, and the academic conference into the hands of people and organizations who can put it to practical use. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_translation 

MTAS rolled out two new KT initiatives this year. The first was an online webinar “report back” of highlights from the 17th World Congress on Pain, attended by the MTAS Research Chair.

The World Congress on Pain® is the preeminent global meeting devoted to sharing new developments in pain research, treatment, and education. The meeting brings together thousands of delegates from more than 100 countries across multiple disciplines. Participants include basic scientists, researchers, clinicians, physicians, students, and trainees, all of whom are devoted to improving pain relief worldwide. https://www.iaspworldcongressonpain.org/

The webinar slides and text of the summary material are posted in the members-only section of the MTAS website.

The second initiative involves the Centre for Integrative Medicine in the Department of Community Health & Epidemiology within the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan. MTAS members are invited to lectures and presentations relevant to continuing competency of the MTAS RMT, alongside healthcare professionals, academics, health authority administration, students and patients.

Any questions related to MTAS-supported research, research in general, or how to participate in research are welcome addressed to d.gowan@usask.ca.

Respectfully submitted,

Donelda Gowan, RMT, BA (Hons), MSc, PhD

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Executive Director - Lori Green

The Annual Report is always a proud and happy task for me.  I have the chance to look forward to opportunities to come by looking back at all the hard work and accomplishments that have been achieved by MTAS members during the last fiscal year and now pave the way for a wonderful next year.  I can reflect and be grateful for the support I receive from the Board of Directors, the many conversations with members, the professional development growth through attending National and Provincial meetings with politicians, course providers, Insurance providers, and peers in the massage therapy world.

This year marked a year of celebrating MTAS members with a public marketing campaign that provided us the opportunity to promote and advocate on behalf of the MTAS membership.   January and February saw me hit the road with Erin Sobkow and Marles Kerns to provide some consultation with members in North Battleford, Lloydminster, Regina, Prince Albert and Wynyard.  We had the opportunity to speak on legislation issues, review the membership and promote our magazine campaign for clinics and the public - “Are you in good hands?” Thanks to all of you who came out for these meetings.  I hope to resume next year.

MTAS continued to promote our Association and membership through social media campaigns on Facebook.  We produced short videos with our membership volunteers, and still photos with “Proud RMT Members”.  Thank you to all of you who gave your time, your voice and shared your proud stories.  We continue to move this campaign forward and encourage any of you to send us short clips or photos that are web-ready to be used in our promotional material.

We continue to advocate and educate members, the public, healthcare professionals and Government on the importance of legislation and the regulation of massage therapy in the province of Saskatchewan.  We have met with provincial MLA and Ministries, Municipal Governments and SGI and WCB on areas that involve or concern the profession; this has encompassed, complaints and investigations, fraudulent claims, students working, “massage parlours”, and RMTs in chiropractic clinics - employee or independent contractors. 

The Board of Directors has identified transparency and communication as an area to enhance further - we are doing this through Facebook, Linked In, and soon the Board blog on the website.  We have held six brown bag lunches in the MTAS classroom, presented one webcast with Dr. Gowan, provided ongoing continuing education opportunities with four CPR/First Aid courses, two cadaver labs, oncology PPG, and specialty workshops:  Anatomy Trains, Body Mechanics, and Dr. Vizniak.  As well, we have sent out many notifications for other educational seminars, workshops, and volunteer opportunities.  We were able to participate in vital cancer research with the University of Saskatchewan.   MTAS maintains our position as the authority in massage through eight media interviews this fiscal year; although the main story of interest has been that of discipline, it still allows us the opportunity to promote MTAS’s high level of integrity and commitment to higher education, and the patient.

I want to thank Jayne Little, Member Services Manager, who is never idle in the office, she is the glue the holds the membership, Executive Director, and Board together.  Jayne is always available to assist the members in many diverse areas.  She is indeed a great asset to the Association and an excellent front-line representative for MTAS. 

I am indebted to the Board for their support, the leadership of our President Marles Kerns, the HR chair Camille Lapierre, and the expertise of Dr. Gowan, Aileen, Erin, Jordan, Tim, Robert, Mandy, and Cecilia the financial wizard.  They have continually challenged me with directives and initiatives.  It is a joy to come to work "almost every day".  I look forward to another great year.

“Volunteers don’t get paid, not because they’re worthless, but because they’re priceless.”

Your Board of Directors committed 52 hours this year to attendance at board meetings, the Executive 72 hours.  MTAS Board meetings are only the beginning for your Board; they give many more hours to internal and external committee and individual Board work.  An approximate total of 894 hours have been contributed this year.   I am incredibly grateful for those who volunteer at the extreme level, and equally those of you who volunteer for ad hoc requests.  You are valued members.

Special recognition goes to Geraldine Barrett for her hard work and compassion in setting up two volunteer treatment dates to assist those first responders and families who were affected by the Humboldt Broncos tragedy.  Geraldine quietly worked behind the scenes to create a group of volunteers to provide massage to those in need in Saskatoon and Humboldt: Lee Bojic, Ken Braun, Donelda Gowan, Judy Osmachenko, Shannon Robinson, Faye Tomyn, Al Bodnarchuk, Sheila Durey, Jaime Parrott, Pamela Schepp, Amy Galiegue, Pat Myron, Lynne Bowerin, James Kohut, Tegan Chappell, Aidas Sudeikis, Katherine Kushniruk, Dawn Hornsby, Carmen Bartko, Shannon Leonard, Sus Gleisberg

Marketing Volunteers/Promotion/RMT Proud: Ken Ansell, Zachary Azure, Todd Rintoul, Katy Weichel, Carl Berry, Marles Kerns, Donelda Gowan, Jodi Olson, Nicole Stasiuk, Camille Lapierre, Mieka Dueckman, Aidas Sudeikis, Kim Schneider, Dr. Donelda Gowan.  ** Many of you who contributed to the video campaign.

Committee Volunteers:  Lara Brierley, Corey Schultz, Dr. Bob Lidington.

2018 AGM volunteers: Lara Brierley, Alana Jellicoe, Darlene McCoshen, Lisa Pluhowy, Todd Rintoul, Karen Seitz, Tammy Tincher.

Thank you.
Lori Green

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CMTA Report - Lori Green
MTAS continues to be an active leader in the CMTA (Canadian Massage Therapy Alliance).  This year the CMTA was active in several areas and held our annual meeting in Winnipeg where we began work on our strategic initiatives and on-boarding of new members. 

An opportunity was provided to the Alliance this year in becoming a member of the HEAL (Organizations for Health Actions).  The CMTA was approved in late December of 2017.  Guiding principles of HEAL are to sustaining the health of Canadians, and the continuous improvement of fair, equitable, efficient and effective health services and system(s).  One of the main goals of HEAL where massage can be beneficial providers is that in Continuum of Care: changing the health needs of individuals and society require a broad range of community and facilities-based services. An integrated continuum of care, providing access to a variety of preventive, supportive, curative, chronic and palliative services, should be the model for Canada’s health system(s). Currently, New Brunswick massage therapists are working on new initiatives providing services to senior citizens in hospital; New Brunswick has the highest senior population in Canada.

We continue to be active with the insurance industry - CLHIA (Canadian Life and Health Industry Associations).  This year Brenda Locke (RMTBC) and I presented to a large delegation on massage therapy, and again discussed the frustration of the industry and the frustration of the non-regulated provinces to be able to provide services of therapeutic massage. 

The CMTA is also currently dealing with the request for funding the CMTCA (Canadian Massage Therapy Council for Accreditation) from all the Associations that are not regulated in Canada.  MTAS, for example, would be expected to contribute approximately $20,000.00 annually for accreditation of our four educational facilities. At the time of this report, all non-regulated provinces have ceased any funding and are working on solutions that make this accreditation available in all provinces but within budget considerations.

I cannot say enough about the value of working together with Canadian massage therapists in the sharing of policy, resources and knowledge transfer. We have made great partnerships and found marvelous support from our peers.  This year the CMTA will be holding our AGM (teleconference) in April, and our in person meeting will be hosted in Halifax.

With respect

Lori Green, Vice Chair CMTA

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Nominations - Camille Lapierre, Vice-President Elect

The 2017-2018 MTAS Board of Directors consisted of 10 members. We currently have one Board member (Robert Kilmer) who has submitted his resignation to the Board of Directors, two who will be completing their term and eight who would like to offer their names for re-election. The Board has received and is excited to put forward Corey Schultz as a nominee to the Board.

Nominations may be submitted to the office by noon April 9th, 2018.

Members who are interested in running for the Board must fill out the form that is included in this report.  Feel free to contact myself, Camille Lapierre, at camille.lapierre@sasktel.net to discuss Board participation.

Current Board members who will be returning for completion of the second year of their term:

Jordan Smith – Insurance (2014.2)
Mandy Fahr -  Education (2014.2 )

Current Board members who will be running for re-election:
Marles Kerns – President  (2011.4)
Camille Lapierre – Vice President-Elect (2013.3)
Aileen Tran Mapletoft – Competency Chair (2011.4)
Donelda Gowan– Research  (2013.3)
Cecilia Myrglod – Finance (2017.2)
Erin Sobkow – Complaints and Investigation. (2017.2)
Tim Rutley – Membership/PR (2017.2)

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 the 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, except 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 under 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 before 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 a copy of the Financial Statements as at October 31st, 2018.

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Bylaw Amendments

Click here to read the amendments to the Bylaws.

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Motions from Members

There are 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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