Possible Move To Canada

[Zahid]

Hello everyone,

With the teacher layoffs in full swing here in Florida and many other states my family faces the possibility of being down to one income being that my wife is an elementary school teacher. 85 of 135 positions will be eliminated and since my wife has only been teaching for 3 years that puts her in the group of those likely to be fired due to budget b.s. Anywho. My wife has family in Ontario, her grandparents are now residents as are her aunts (both in the medical field. ) They have been urging us to move there for years but I put it off since most of our family is here but not it may be time for that change for the good of my family.

Basically I guess I am looking for some unbiased advice from those that either have moved from the states to Canada and continued their massage therapy career and how it has been for you and how you find yourself adjusting to Canada. Her family paints it as all roses but I'm sure there are things to consider.

Also to make this post a bit wordier. What does a licensed therapist from the U.S. have to do to become a therapist in Canada? How much more schooling? Any hours transferable? And so on.

Well thank you all for any advice.

Eric

 

[Mallie]

Here are a couple of links that might be useful.

http://www.cicic.ca/684/Massage_Therapists.canada?prof=3235.2

http://www.cmta.ca/

I've got family in Ontario as well, though I've only visited.

Best wishes.

 

[Amii...x]

In Ontario you need 2200 hours to be a Massage Therapist. The College of Massage Therapy in Ontario does have a program to factor in hours taken outside of the province or country, to apply them towards your education. I'm not sure if that would include hours obtained through continuing education credits, or not. It would probably depend on the courses taken.

My opinion is biased because I am a Canadian. I'm not from Ontario though, my S/O's family just moved there 2 years ago though - and they have been begging us as well to come move out there - so there must be something good out there!

I'm sorry your family is potentially facing some tough times ahead - I hope you guys are able to come to a decision you're all comfortable with if it comes down to that.

 

[Janny]

I guess the Canadians of the board would be better able to give proper info on this, but I have a Canadian client who has told me that if you have skills as a builder, Canada is in need of these. BTW, she is from Edmonton.

Also, we have a friend who immigrated to Canada and apprenticed as a tile-layer -- he has had a huge success in this field and continues to get lots of work.

Just general info, in case you have to look for other work.

 

[Papa B]

I don't know how it is in Ontario - but I know here in Alberta, the trades are very slow right now. My boyfriend works for a home builder, as well as doing renovations of all sorts on the side - and neither has been keeping him busy, and a lot of other tradespeople he knows, have had to find second jobs unrelated to the field.

8 months ago they had 3 people doing his job, and they couldn't keep up, now it's just him, and they can't keep him busy. BUT, it is slowly starting to pick up, and should be some what steady within a few months.

There doesn't seem to be a shoreforum.xxxe of work, though. Just a major slow down in the industries that were at one time, scrambling to find anyone who could use a screw driver. They're all laying people off now.

 

[Nelly]

Monkey, does Ontario have a provision similar to BC's? In BC you need 2200 hours to call yourself a Registered MT, but can work as an MT without that insane amount of education as long as you do not call yourself RMT. I have several BC friends who work legally with less education, just using a different classification (CMT, I think?).

 

[Bad Example]

I don't know for sure - I think you can practice as an LMP/CMT/LMT under certain modalities. Relaxation, Pre-natal etc. BUT I don't think you'd be recognized by any massage associations in Canada, or provincially in Ontario. Which severely limits your client base because insurance companies and health care policies generally won't accept anything less then an RMT. You can become licensed, though.

I also think there may be the option of challenging the exams to satisfy the educational requirements. Again not positive, but I seem to recall my instructors mentioning this if we ever wanted to relocate, as some provinces require 3000 hours.

I do know lots of schools offer distance combined with monthly onsite training - which would make it easy for you to work as a cmt/lmt/lmp while upgrading to meet the requirements of an RMT.

Someone else from Ontario might know more about practicing without being registered. Alberta isn't regulated yet, anything over 250 hours is recognized - but they're phasing that out to a minimum of 1000 hours. So I'm not entirely sure how it works in the provinces that are regulated.

 

[letmeowt1]

Well here's the simple answer from Ontario... A 2200hr RMT designation is needed to practice "Massage Therapy" or call yourself a "Massage Therapist". The college has a challenge procedure, but in essence you have to prove your curriculum and hours are equivalent. Most MDs will only refer out to an RMT. Our provincial health plan (OHIP) does not cover massage therapy, and not all employee benefits plans cover it. If the benefits plan covers it, it's usually only to about $400/year, and only if prescribed by an MD. Most folks do not have that coverage.

So... Yes you can practice, you can do anything and RMT does, you just can't use the T word. If you are near Toronto or Ottawa, there are part time programs to upgrade. If you are elsewhere, expect to travel, which adds immensely to you costs.

BTW: The College of Massage Therapists of Ontario (CMTO) is a governing body, not an actual college.

Darren

 

[What ever...]

Where you are moving to will determine what you need. As someone previously said, some provinces are regulated, some are not. British columbia, Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador are regulated. In the regulated provinces of Ontario, newfoundland and labradore, you need 2200 hours of study. As someone else said you can take courses that take into account previous work, but in Ontario, I believe it is only offered in Toronto at Centenial college, that I know of, I could be wrong on that. You might want to check into that.

In British columbia you need 3000 hours of study, if you have your registration from another province then that will allow you to work in BC.

If you are in an unregulated province, you may be able to work without any extra training, but do note, that other provinces are working towards regulation, so you may be able to work for a while, but you may find yourself having to jump through the regulation hoops before long.

In the regulated provinces you have to be careful what you call yourself. In ontario, Massage therapist, and massage therapy are registered trade marks, and as such are enforceable under the federal trademark laws. What that means is you can't call yourself a CMT, LMT, or anything else that says massage therapist, nor can you say you provide massage therapy. What you might be able to do is say you provide relaxation massage, or body work. Some people call themselves massage practicioner, but that is hitting a grey area.

In British Columbia, I have been told, now you want to research this yourself, that the term massage is trademarked, so if you aren't regulated by the college of massage therapist of british columbia, you can't even say you offer massage of any kind. But I don't live there, so do your homework

As far as working as a non registered therapist in Canada, it can be done, however, massage is covered by most extended health care plans (benefits). Most (not all) plans require that the person providing the massage be registered. Unfortunately that means most people rely on their benefits to pay for their plans, and don't often want to pay out of pocket, when someone else will pay it for them. There are people out there who believe in massage and will pay for it whether their benefits cover it or not, but there are a lot who, when their benefits run out, they stop coming. Not all, and you can certainly build a business with people who pay out of pocket, but it is harder

 

[Why Does It Matter?]

You can find more information on Ontario requirements at http://www.cmto.com.