Provinces
Ontario
College Contacts:
Peter Barnes barnes555@rogers.com
Bob Bond bbond@niagarahealth.on.ca wk: 905-378-4647 ext. 32385
Three regions of Ontario passed motions in 2006 calling for the preparation of Terms of Reference for one CAPPE/ACPEP Professional Practice body in the province. This will be followed up at the three respective 2007 AGMs.
These same three regions joined the Ontario Coalition of Mental Health Professionals (OCMHP) in early summer 2006, and (very actively) participated in the submission phase to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care following the springtime release of the Health Professional Regulatory Advisory Committee’s (HPRAC’s) recommendations concerning counsellors and psychotherapists in the province. As well, there was a concerted ‘push’, by way of letter and e-mail campaign, throughout the fall, focusing on both the Minister’s office and most Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), which effort clearly succeeded in shaping the legislation then-pending. The Minister tabled the "Health System Improvements” Bill 171 in late December; it is available on the Government of Ontario website and may be accessed using the following process:
Go to www.ontla.on.ca
- click on "Bills" and "Public Bill Index"
- click on "H" for the "Health System Improvements (Bill 171)"
- click on "view first reading" (PDF)
- the Psychotherapy Act, 2006, is on page 138-141 of the omnibus bill
- Or Go directly via this link then to page 138
Also, if you click on "Backgrounder Information" you will see "What Health Care Experts Are Saying About The McGuinty Government's Health System Improvements Bill" which contains a quote from the chairperson on behalf of the OCMHP.
Next steps include possible OCMHP ‘encouragement’ of MLAs concerning this legislation, and work towards obtaining solid representation for chaplains and pastoral counsellors on the Transition Council of the College of Psychotherapy .
It should be noted that, throughout this period, we have met and worked alongside/with the Ontario MultiFaith Council and the Ontario Chaplains Association; so it is that all three bodies now have a more-or-less agreed upon membership framework that is built upon, though ‘opens out’, CAPPE/ACPEP certification levels. [This material can be viewed in two accompanying documents.]
Ontario is en route to a College of Psychotherapy , to which College it is surely hoped and intended that the province’s Chaplains and Pastoral Counsellors shall belong.
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