About Acupuncture

A short history of TCM becoming a designated health profession
in British Columbia

Acupuncturists trained under Traditional Chinese Medicine first began to lobby the British Columbia provincial government in the early seventies for regulation (designation as a health profession). In the following two decades, various individuals and associations have conducted briefings and events aimed at educating policy makers who, by and large, viewed the treatment with curiosity. During the fall of 1991, five associations of acupuncturists, representing a total
of 236 practitioners, applied to the Health Professions Council for designation under the Health Professions Act.

A public hearing was held in Vancouver on October 27, 1992. The Council's investigation of acupuncture included a consultation process with related professions, consumer groups, and other interested parties as well as research on the practice of acupuncture and its regulation in other jurisdictions.

At around the same time in 1992, the Traditional Chinese Medicine Association of British Columbia (TCMABC) submitted an application for designation of TCM as a self-regulating health profession. In 1996 when acupuncture was designated, a second application was submitted by the Canadian SinoBiology Practitioners Association (CSPA) and a third by the Pacific Region TCM Practitioner and Acupuncturist Society (PRTCMPAS). Each applicant indicated a willingness to work cooperatively in the event that TCM was designated as a health profession.

The Council recommended in 1993 that acupuncture be designated as a health profession. In 1996, the Acupuncture Regulation was created under the Health Professions Act and the College of Acupuncturists of British Columbia (CABC) was formed to administer the regulation.

Since its formation in 1996, the College of Acupuncturists (CABC) has seen many rocky days. Its bylaws drafting was stalled by heated debates ranging from the method of grandparenting acupuncturists to whether TCM should be administered under one college if and when TCM were designated. The Professional Health Council also noted that “the first Board of the College
of Acupuncturists to establish bylaws were frustrated by lack of knowledge on the part of some members of the acupuncture practitioner community as to the meaning of governance of the profession in the public interest; and the difficult task of establishing a governing body due to the lack of previous experience (
in the history of TCM) dealing with this form of regulation.”

A public hearing was held by the Health Professions Council on October 9 and 10, 1997 regarding the designation of TCM. After careful study of the submissions and the testimony at the public hearing, the Council concluded that TCM is the philosophical tradition from which acupuncture, herbology, and the other primary TCM therapies derive their theoretical bases and standards of practice. The Council believes that it is more appropriate that one college governs both practitioners of TCM and acupuncture.

In June 1999, the Government announced the creation of the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Acupuncturists of B.C. (CTCMA). A full-time registrar was appointed. The associated regulation was passed in December 2000.

The first group of 68 registered acupuncturists was granted the title in December 1999. A two-year registration grace period for acupuncture ended in June 2001. This period overlapped slightly with another two-year registration grace period for TCM which ended in April 2003.