Introduction

The Council of the College of Naturopaths of Ontario is undertaking a formal consultation on proposed amendments to the by-laws of the College as they relate to the election of the Council of the College. As required under the Health Professions Procedural Code, which is Schedule 2 of the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991, the Council is undertaking this mandatory 60-day consultation.

The intent of the change is to eliminate the districts within the by-laws and fashion the election of seven qualified individuals from anywhere in Ontario.

Background

Currently, the College Council is made up of seven professional members from districts established within the Province of Ontario by the Council. Each district elects one person to the Council for a three-year term and elected Council members may be re-elected to an additional two terms for a maximum of nine consecutive years on the Council.

Each year, an election is held in the districts where the Council member’s three-year term is expiring. As such, a Call for Nominations is issued to the registrants in those districts whereby an interested registrant must submit a series of on-line forms, including the names of two nominators from their districts.

Notwithstanding the nomination process, each nominee must meet the competencies to hold a Council position as set out in Council policy GP31 – Council and Committee Qualifying Program. This program sets out the competencies and the process by which a registrant may become qualified to stand for election in a district.

Key Considerations for Change

There are several reasons for considering this change. First, there has been and will remain a challenge finding individuals in each of the districts who wish to be nominated from the Council. In most cases, existing Council members and staff of the College must contact registrants and current volunteers to encourage them to be nominated.

Second, over the last several years, and with the nudging of the Ministry of Health through the College Performance Measurement Framework, a competency-based process has been established for both the election of Council members and appointment of Committee members. Applying the competency-based approach to an election that is based on districts or regional representation is highly challenging as the individuals who come forward through encouragement or through the nomination are not guaranteed to be able to meet the competencies.

Third, when individuals are elected to the Council from a district, there is the perception that the individual is on Council to “represent their constituents” in the same way a Member of Parliament and Member of Provincial Parliament does. For the health regulatory Colleges, the Council member does not represent or work on behalf of their fellow registrants in their districts. Registrants, when electing a person to Council, are asked to consider candidates and elect the person who they believe can best serve and protect the public interest.

Fourth, the Council of the College is primarily responsible for a) overseeing the activities of the College and ensuring compliance of the College with the mandate set out in the RHPA, the Code and the Act and the regulations made under them, b) selecting the Chief Executive Officer and monitoring their performance and c) setting the strategic directions of the College and monitoring performance of the College to the strategy. None of these roles are dependent on regional positions or perspectives.

Finally, there are several demographic considerations the Council might wish to consider in its composition in the future. For example, maintaining representation of individuals who have met the Standard of Practice for Therapeutic Prescribing or for Intravenous Infusion Therapy. Other examples might be:

• Ensuring representation of individuals from various communities who are under-represented, marginalized or otherwise systemically discriminated against.
• Enduring proper gender-based representation in alignment with the profession itself.

When seeking any individual to agree to be nominated in a district, such considerations are much more difficult to implement.

The Proposed New Process

Under the new process, there would be a single district that is the Province of Ontario. Seven individuals would be elected to the Council, and these elections would be staggard to ensure the entire Council does not change members in a single year.

A Call for Nominations for the correct number of individuals would be sent to all registrants and nominations could be received from any registrant, anywhere in the province. The Qualifying Program would be conducted annually and pre-qualify individuals on a regular basis and individuals who have been pre-qualified could seek election.

Existing Council members would continue their current terms until they expire and then be able to seek re-election when that term expires. Existing limits on the terms would remain in place.

Supporting Documentation

In line with this consultation’s intent, a supporting document that sets out the proposed by-law amendments to implement the change described above has been drafted and is now being released for feedback.

Name	Description
Proposed By-law Changes – Election of Council Members	This document sets out the proposed amendments to the by-laws to implement the change to the election of the Council and to remove the districts.
GP31 – Council and Committee Qualifying Program	For  reference, this document sets out the Council’s Qualifying Program for individuals who wish to be elected to Council or appointed to committees.

Feedback

The College is seeking feedback from all registrants, the public, naturopathic organizations, and other regulatory bodies. Feedback may be provided by written letter or email.

All feedback must include the name of the individual submitting the feedback for validity purposes. Anonymous submissions will not be considered and will not be retained by the College.

Feedback can be provided to the following addresses:

Written correspondence by mail:	College of Naturopaths of Ontario 10 King Street East, Suite 1001 Toronto, ON  M5C 1C3
Written correspondence by facsimile:	(416) 583-6011
Written correspondence by e-mail:	general@collegeofnaturopaths.on.ca

Time

Consultation will begin on September 25, 2025, and will conclude on November 26, 2025.

Our Thanks

The College thanks everyone for reviewing these consultation materials and providing feedback.

Andrew Parr, CAE

Chief Executive Officer