CCO President’s Message and Newsletter – June 19, 2026

President’s Message – June 19, 2026

What an amazingly productive, fulfilling and impactful few months it has been for the College of Chiropractors of Ontario since my last message to you. In addition to just a few of the important highlights and developments summarized in the newsletter below, the College has been a beehive of activity as we continue to play a leading role as a valued health systems partner in the province.

It was our distinct pleasure to again welcome the Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, the Honourable Syliva Jones, to CCO’s head office on June 4, 2026 to meet with and address all members of the Health Profession Regulators of Ontario (HPRO), at this important time for regulatory colleges looking at potential expansions of scope. Expect to hear much more about this from the Minister in future.

CCO also hosted two days of national meetings for the Federation of Canadian Chiropractic (FCC) on May 29 and 30^th, to share contexts and insights on the practice and regulation of chiropractic from across the country.

Our AGM and Council meetings on June 5, 2026 welcomed Council members from across the province as well as Dr. Ian Coulter, currently research professor at the Southern California University of Health Sciences, who delivered a thought-provoking presentation on the ethical dimension of evidence-informed practice.

In the two-week run up prior to the AGM and full Council meeting, our Registrar and General Counsel noted that there had been intensive meetings of the Patient Relations, Executive, Quality Assurance and Registration committees, as well as a Discipline Committee prehearing and ICRC caution. CCO also conducted two Regulatory Excellence Workshops in the same period.

None of this would be possible without the ongoing commitment and professionalism of CCO staff, and our Council and non-Council committee members, for whose incredible efforts I am truly grateful. Thank you to them and to all CCO members for supporting regulatory excellence for chiropractic in Ontario.

Sincerely,

Dr. Kyle Grice

President

CCO Newsletter – June 19, 2026

Draft Standard of Practice on Diagnostic Ultrasound – Feedback Requested by August 20, 2026

On May 11, 2026, the Ontario Government announced its intention for future scope of practice expansions to several Ontario regulated health professions, including the authorization for chiropractors to order diagnostic ultrasound. This announcement is consistent with the Government’s objective to enhance patient access to care, and to improve efficiency within the health care system.

As a result, CCO Council has approved a draft standard of practice on diagnostic ultrasound for distribution and feedback to system partners, including members, chiropractic organizations and health regulatory colleges. The draft standard of practice sets the expectations for patient selection, follow-up and clinical competency for members to order diagnostic ultrasound within the chiropractic scope of practice.

Please review the draft standard of practice and provide feedback through the portal, or email any feedback to cco.info@cco.on.ca by August 20, 2026. Members may log one hour of unstructured CE hours for the review and submission of feedback on the draft standard of practice. The Quality Assurance Committee will review all feedback received in making final standard of practice recommendations to Council.

Note: the authorization for chiropractors to order diagnostic ultrasound is not yet in effect. The timing or implementation of any future expansions or authorizations will be announced by the Ontario Government at a later date. Please visit the “News” page of CCO’s website for further updates.

New Self Assessment for the July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2028 Continuing Education (CE) Cycle

CCO Council has approved a new, simplified Self Assessment for the upcoming CE cycle. The new Self Assessment:

has only one version, is reduced to 10 pages, and is organized to reflect the chronology of the doctor-patient experience
includes the fillable plan of action
reflects new and updated standards of practice, policies and guidelines
includes references and links to relevant CCO documents for each section

The new Self Assessment takes effect and will be posted on the CCO website on July 1, 2026, and can be downloaded as a fillable PDF. Members are strongly encouraged to complete the Self Assessment within the first three months of the new CE cycle to help guide their CE activities. As a reminder, the completed Self Assessment does not need to be submitted to CCO and is for your records.

Reminder: July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2026 CE Cycle Hours due by December 31, 2026

The current CE cycle is coming to an end on June 30, 2026. Members may log and submit their CE hours for the July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2026 CE cycle until December 31, 2026. CE hours for the period can be logged through the member portal under “Continuing Education and Professional Development Log” by selecting the July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2026 CE cycle in the “Reporting Cycle” window.

A reminder that members registered in the General (i.e., Active) class of registration for the entirety of the CE cycle are required to participate and log their CE hours in accordance with the CCO Continuing Education requirements. Members who were not registered in the General class for the entirely of the CE cycle are exempt from reporting and may check off the “No” option under this CE cycle in the member portal.

Members in the General class of registration are required to participate in 40 hours of CE over a two-year period:

Participate in a minimum of 20 hours (out of the 40 hours) in structured activities
Participate in a maximum of 20 hours (out of the 40 hours) in unstructured activities

Specific Requirements to be Completed Every CE Cycle

Members are reminded that there are specific mandatory CE requirements to be completed every CE cycle:

five mandatory structured hours consisting of diagnostic or therapeutic procedures related to any of the controlled acts within the chiropractic scope of practice; and
maintaining a certificate in emergency first aid/CPR (this requirement may not be required to be completed every CE cycle if a certificate is valid for three years).

Specific Requirements to be Completed Every Three CE cycles (Six Years)

There are additional specific CE requirements required to be completed once every six years (or three CE cycles):

Attendance at a CCO Regulatory Excellence Workshop (virtual or in-person) once every three CE cycles (or six years) to be completed by June 30, 2028 for those members registered in the General class prior to July 1, 2022; and
5 hours of structured activity primarily focused on an in-person hands-on or hand-held instrument adjustment or manipulation activity once every three CE cycles (or six years) to be completed by June 30 2030 for those members registered in the General class prior to July 1, 2024.

Please note these two additional requirements are not required to be completed during the July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2026 CE cycle, but do need to be completed during the identified six-year time period.

If members were registered after these CE requirements came into effect, the requirement to complete these activities will come into effect during their first six years of reporting on CE (e.g., if you were registered on August 1, 2026, you will be required to complete the 5 hours of hands on/instrument adjustment or manipulation activity during the July 1, 2028 – June 30, 2034 time period).

The July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2028 CE log will soon be available in the member portal, and members may begin logging hours as of July 1, 2026

Please see the CE Requirements Summary and the Continuing Education webpage for further details.

Peterborough hosts Regulatory Excellence Workshop (REW)

CCO presented its latest in-person REW in Peterborough on May 27, 2026. Special thank you to CCO Public Council Members Scott Stewart and Rob Chopowick for attending, CCO Elected Council Member and Chair of the QA Committee Dr. Michael Gauthier for attending and presenting, as well as Dr. Katherine Tibor, Director of Professional Practice, and Joel Friedman, Deputy Registrar for the excellent presentations.

CCO offers the REW virtually three times per year and in-person in select locations in Ontario. The in-person workshops provide a great opportunity for members to interact with CCO staff and Council members. Please visit the CCO website for upcoming REW dates. Thank you to all who attended!

May 27, 2026 – CCO hosted a Regulatory Excellence Workshop at the airport in Peterborough, courtesy of Mr. Scott Stewart, CCO Treasurer

RAND Senior Health Researcher Dr. Ian Coulter Guest Lecturer at AGM

One of the highlights of CCO’s recent AGM held June 5, 2026 in Toronto was the presentation by RAND senior researcher Dr. Ian Coulter on the ethical imperative for health care providers to offer evidence-informed practice (EIP). Dr. Coulter is professor emeritus at UCLA, with more than four decades of experience conducting both qualitative and quantitative research on complementary and alternative medicine and integrative medicine.

Dr. Coulter shared that there are six major ethical principles of practice that apply to evaluating evidence, and outlined the challenges in undertaking EIP. He noted that while research can be both rigorous and clinically useful, often that which is rigorous may not be useful and that which is useful may not be rigorous. The question for clinical practice is whether the synthesis of evidence provides sufficient evidence to either do a procedure, or to stop doing it, in terms of the risk and benefit to the patient. This in turn requires a basic level of literacy in research methods and an ability to facilitate shared decision making. In sum, he argued, it is clear we have entered an era where those in health practice have ethical responsibilities to provide EIP.

June 5, 2026 – CCO held its 2025 Annual General Meeting which included a presentation by Dr. Ian Coulter. Dr. Adrian Grice, Dr. Kyle Grice’s father, joined the meeting virtually.

Withdrawing Patient Care if Risk of Harm

Under no circumstances should a member tolerate a risk to themselves, their staff or patients as a result of abusive patient behaviour. Members may deny or withdraw care in such instances where there is a reasonable risk or threat of harm or abuse. Should this occur, members are advised to document the incident and to contact appropriate authorities if required. There is no obligation for the member to refer the patient to another chiropractor in these circumstances.

A comprehensive guideline on ending the doctor-patient relationship is currently in development, and will be distributed in future.

CCO explores AI video generation to better inform public

CCO intends to produce a number of short videos for the public on various topics related to the doctor-patient relationship, such as giving consent, understanding plans of care, and chiropractor business practices. The first of these focuses on what to expect when you first visit a chiropractor. The video initiative was identified by Council during CCO’s last strategic planning session, and Council also included the directive to explore the potential use of and impacts of AI on CCO communications and other College practices. The initial video in the series is available here and comments /feedback are invited.

Recent CCO Meetings

May 30, 2026 – CCO hosted the FCC national meetings, including regulators from across Canada

June 4, 2026 – CCO hosted the recent HPRO meeting and was pleased to hear remarks from the Honourable Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health

Contents:

President’s Message – June 19, 2026

CCO Newsletter – June 19, 2026

Recent CCO Meetings