UPDATE: December 22nd, 2020

Today, the AB Minister of Health announced a relaxation to recently imposed restrictions on Massage Therapists' ability to work. This relaxation enables Massage Therapists to perform their services as long as there is a referral from a Doctor or a Regulated Health Professional. In other words, the momentum of this petition and the significant collection of voices focused towards the Government and Dr Hinshaw was successful.

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Effective December 13th, 2020 the Alberta government has ordered the closure of several business in an effort to slow down the growing cases of COVID-19 infection rates. Mistakenly, this has included Massage Therapy Services.

Many Massage therapists work within clinics that are owned and operated by provincially Regulated Health Professions such as Chiropractic, Physiotherapy, Naturopathy and Acupuncture who are being allowed to continue to operate during this time. These Regulated Health Professions have governing Colleges that have effectively upheld and have safely abided by all COVID-19 safety measures including wearing PPE, sanitizing all spaces, safe distancing and minimizing scheduling to allow for minimal contact in waiting rooms. 

Presently, Massage Therapy does not have a unified College in Alberta, but has several strong Associations that have mandated the exact same precautions that all of these Regulated Health Professions have been abiding by.

We are asking that the Premier Jason Kenney, Minister of Health Tyler Shandro and the Chief Medical Officer Dr Deena Hinshaw reconsider the blanket restrictions placed upon Massage Therapists who already practice within these Regulated Health Profession clinics and allow for them to continue working beyond December 13th, 2020.