Updates

2021 Annual Summary

The CCHA has issued a public statement regarding the NNHPD. The statement is available through the following link:

CCHA Public Statement (NNHPD) June 2019-Final Version

Report available here: Standing Committee Recommendations Report

compiled from: https://www.ourcommons.ca/documentviewer/en/36-1/HEAL/report-2/page-21#1A

Canadian Council of Herbalist Associations (CCHA)

Annual Summary – November 2018

 

The CCHA met for our annual, in-person meeting November 2-4, 2018 in Victoria BC.  The following is a summary of our activities over the past year.

CCHA Board of Directors

President – Katolen Yardley – British Columbia
Vice-President – Bree Nabholz – Alberta
Secretary, Treasurer – Kristy Garnet – Alberta
Marianne Beacon – Ontario
Lianna Vargas – Ontario
Megan Tardif-Woolgar- New Brunswick
Daniel Wiseman – Nova Scotia
Savayda Jarone – Nova Scotia

The CCHA team works diligently, volunteering many hours of their time and expertise amidst busy herbal practices to ensure unity and growth within the herbal community.

This year we were pleased to welcome:

• A new herbal association from New Brunswick- The Herbalist Association of NB, represented by Megan Tardif-Woolgar.  She has joined the insurance sub-committee.
• A new representative from the Herbalist Association of Nova Scotia, Daniel Wiseman. He has joined the social media and newly formed cannabis education sub-committees.
• A new representative from the Alberta Herbalist Association, Kristy Garnet who is our new secretary/treasurer.

Other changes on our board:

• Lindsay Hounslow from the Canadian Herbalist Association of BC is stepping down. We are deeply grateful for her contributions since 2012. Bree Nabholz has stepped into the role of Vice President. The CHA of BC is looking for a new representative to replace her in the Board of Directors.

Achievements & Activities from the Past Year ( 2018)

• Monthly teleconference meetings
• At the previous AGM in 2017, the CCHA Facebook page was created. Since then, we have grown our community to 394 followers.
• The CCHA is diving into a review of internal systems, creation of templates to facilitate faster completion of projects and reviewing Bylaws.
• Ongoing discussion of how to lobby Insurance companies for inclusion of herbal consultations into health care benefit packages for employees and small businesses.
• Ongoing consultation with the NNHPD (details below).

NNHPD (Natural and Non-Prescription Health Products Directorate)

The CCHA has re-established our role as a major stakeholder with Health Canada and has been invited to participate in multiple stakeholder sessions held in 2018. Participation in ongoing NNHPD consultation is a primary goal of the CCHA, as the NNHPD is revamping the current Natural and Non-prescription Health Products (NNHP) regulations. CCHA representatives Bree Nabholz and Katolen Yardley attended several NNHPD stakeholder meetings held in February 2018 and November 2018 (in person, two days long), plus one online meeting.

It has been important to ensure that the CCHA has a presence and voice at these meetings in order to represent the interests of herbal practitioners. Of key concern to the CCHA is the continued validity and use of traditional use claims for NHPs, and ensuring that the Practitioner Compounding Policy is upheld. Currently, the CCHA is offering input into proposed modifications to regulations regarding labelling standards for natural health products.

The Year Ahead

Sub committees were reviewed and new committees created at the AGM.  We are opening some of these sub-committees to volunteers to join from within our associations’ memberships.  Here are some areas that we are seeking and inviting volunteers to join:

• Marketing and Outreach – To generate greater awareness of our profession
• Social Media – We invite provincial herbal associations to forward herbal related community events being hosted by their professional members, if there are articles or blog posts written by professional members, please forward them to the CCHA via your provincial representative and the CCHA would be pleased to feature these events on social media. Also, tag the CCHA in social media posts posted by your associations.
• Insurance Subcommittee – The CCHA continues to investigate the possibility of extended health insurance coverage for members of the public seeking herbal consultations. Many employers or businesses offer extended health benefits packages for their staff; we are investigating how herbalists may be added to extended health benefits packages for possible consultation coverage. This is proving to be a time consuming task and we invite members of provincial associations who are interested in contributing to this project (via a subcommittee) to put their name forward to their provincial association and the association can pass along the names via their CCHA representative.
• Cannabis Subcommittee – The CCHA has created a brief position statement with regards to the new legislation around cannabis. Please refer to statement. The CCHA  will continue to monitor any changes with legislation and how they relate to herbal practitioners.
• Fundraising – The CCHA requires funds to ensure board members are able to attend NNHPD meetings in Ottawa. The board is entirely run on a volunteer basis, so being able to offer funds to cover flight costs is crucial to our voice being heard in Ottawa. This subcommittee is dedicated to developing viable fundraising ideas to further the goals of the CCHA as a whole.

Ongoing Projects

Honouring of Herbal Elders: If a provincial association is aware of a herbal practitioner who has been in active clinical practice for over 25 years, please bring the name and contact information to our attention. The criteria for an herbal elder can be viewed here: https://herbalccha.org/?page_id=38

 

Additional Goals For The Year Ahead

Visibility of Herbalism – The CCHA is looking at ways of raising the visibility and awareness of herbal practitioners amongst the public.

At Risk Plant Awareness in Canada and Internationally – To make more responsible choices for use, cultivation, growing and medicine making within the herbal community. Stay tuned for periodic updates of plants at risk.

Communications – Facilitate more regular communication between CCHA and provincial Board of Directors. While it’s the role of the CCHA representative to ensure dialogue and communication between the provincial association and the board of the CCHA, we have also created an annual feedback questionnaire for provincial associations which we ask to be returned annually prior to the CCHA AGM. This will assist in outlining priorities and actions for the year ahead.  See feedback questionnaire.

CCHA Board of Directors wish you all the very best in your herbal practices and are grateful for the part you play in the growth and strength of our profession.

THANK YOU!

Green regards,

CCHA Team

2015: The CCHA was invited to attend the second annual Vancouver Island Herb Gathering and focused on hosting a ceremony to recognise and honour Elder practitioners of Herbal Medicine within Canada who have offered significant contribution to herbal medicine in Canada and have been in private practice for over 25 years. This was a moving ceremony for many and a valuable opportunity to recognize the efforts of our Elders, who have offered great contribution in their communities and through political or educational work, assisting to keep herbal medicine accessible to everyone.

2015 – Le CCAH a été invité à assister au deuxième rassemblement d’herboristerie de l’île de Vancouver et a déployé ses efforts à organiser une cérémonie visant à rendre hommage aux anciens herboristes praticiens canadiens qui exercent en pratique privée depuis plus de 25 ans et ont apporté une contribution exceptionnelle au domaine de l’herboristerie au Canada. Cette émouvante cérémonie s’est révélée une occasion unique de reconnaître les efforts de nos anciens, qui ont apporté une grande contribution à leur communauté et, grâce à leurs actions politiques ou éducatives, ont aidé à assurer l’accessibilité de l’herboristerie pour tous.

2013-2014 The CCHA completed Standards of Practice documents for Professional Herbalists to circulate within member associations throughout Canada which include Scope of Practice, Code of Ethics, Code of Practice, Scope of Practice and Education Standards documents.

2013-2014 – Le CCAH a terminé la rédaction de documents portant sur les normes de pratique à l’intention des herboristes professionnels. Les associations provinciales devront les distribuer à leurs membres. Il s’agit de documents portant sur le champ d’exercice, le code de déontologie, le code de bonne pratique ainsi que les normes de formation.

In 2013 the CCHA met monthly by electronic conferencing and twice in person – Calgary in July and Ottawa in November.

Our current members are: Savayda Jarone, Nova Scotia, Genevieve Sirois, Quebec, Michael Vertolli and Rick deSylva, Ontario, Flo Lavallie, Saskatchewan, Terry Willard and Jeananne Laing, Alberta, Katolen Yardley and Lindsay Hounslow, British Columbia. A warm welcome back to Ontario member Rick deSylva, who has returned to the CCHA after a short absence and a welcome to new BC members Lindsay Hounslow and
Katolen Yardley.

During this year the CCHA worked on:

• The Development of the Council of Elders (a recognition of practicing Canadian herbalists who have offered outstanding and long term contribution to the field of herbal medicine), and discussed the format of creating a 2015 National gathering of herbalists designed to build and strengthen the Canadian community of herbalists and recognize the Council of Elders.
• Reviewed the third draft of the Standards of Practice documents which we are in the process of completing. These documents can be used a guidelines for each province. Associations will be receiving these documents very soon. Please respond within 90 days upon receipt of documents with any suggestions or input.
• We also gave our regards and said our goodbyes to Quebec member Marie Jutras – who passed away this year after a long illness. You will be missed Marie.

NHPD updates: In our relationship with the NHPD there are no current issues that we know of that affect herbal practitioners directly. Sometime soon (theoretically, December 1, 2013) natural health products imported and for resale require a NHP number (NPN). Food format items are not required to have NPN numbers – as of April 2012 (red bull, super foods, herbal powders and teas are exempt from this policy). Retailers can carry products without an NPN number for 6-10 months before they are technically disallowed for sale.
In the past we negotiated a policy allowing for herbal practitioner exemptions – allowing continued importation of raw materials for compounding. Bulk Tinctures have been designated as raw materials.

We are continuing to observe changes which may potentially affect our profession and have been assured that the new importing policy effective December 1 will not affect herbal practitioner’s ability to import for compounding purposes. We are monitoring the implementation of this policy to ensure continued accessibility.

In 2014 we will be continuing our regular cyber meetings, focusing on updating the CCHA website, and we look forward to the completion of our longstanding standards project as well as bringing in new tasks such as co creation of a Canada wide herbal gathering and the formation of the Council of Elders (more information on these items will be shared very soon).

The Board of the Canadian Council of Herbalist Associations

_____

 

En 2013, le CCAH a tenu des réunions mensuelles en ligne ainsi que deux réunions en personne, soit à Calgary en juillet et à Ottawa en novembre.
Membres actuels du comité du Conseil : Savayda Jarone (Nouvelle-Écosse), Geneviève Sirois (Québec), Michael Vertolli et Rick DeSylva (Ontario), Flo Lavallie (Saskatchewan), Terry Willard et Jeananne Laing (Alberta), Katolen Yardley et Lindsay Hounslow (Colombie-Britannique). Nous sommes heureux d’accueillir chaleureusement Rick DeSylva, membre de l’Ontario, qui est de retour au CCAH après une courte absence, ainsi que Lindsay Hounslow et Katolen Yardley, nos nouvelles membres de la Colombie-Britannique.
Au cours de l’année, le CCAH a travaillé sur les projets suivants :
• Nous avons travaillé à l’élaboration du programme d’hommage aux anciens (un hommage rendu aux herboristes praticiens canadiens qui ont apporté une contribution exceptionnelle à long terme au domaine de l’herboristerie) et discuté de la formule à privilégier pour l’organisation d’un rassemblement pancanadien d’herboristerie en 2015, dont l’objectif serait de bâtir une communauté canadienne d’herboristes et d’en rapprocher les membres, ainsi que de rendre hommage aux anciens.
• Nous avons examiné la troisième version préliminaire des documents portant sur les normes de pratique, qui sont sur le point d’être terminés. Ces documents serviront de lignes directrices aux associations provinciales et leur seront envoyés très bientôt. Veuillez nous faire parvenir vos commentaires ou suggestions dans les 90 jours suivant la réception des documents.
• Nous avons aussi salué et dit au revoir à Marie Jutras, membre du Québec, décédée cette année à la suite d’une longue maladie. Tu nous manqueras, Marie.
Nouvelles à propos de la DPSN : Dans le cadre de nos discussions avec la Direction des produits de santé naturels (DPSN), nous n’avons relevé aucun problème qui aurait une incidence directe pour les herboristes praticiens. Bientôt (le 1er décembre 2013 en théorie), les produits de santé naturels importés et destinés à la revente devront avoir un numéro de produit naturel (NPN). Selon l’information que nous avons reçue en avril 2012, les produits vendus comme aliments ne seront pas tenus d’avoir un NPN (ainsi, les boissons énergisantes Red Bull, les superaliments, les plantes en poudre et les thés sont exemptés de cette politique). Les détaillants pourront continuer d’offrir des produits sans NPN pendant 6 à 10 mois avant que leur vente ne soit techniquement interdite.
Nous avons déjà négocié une exemption pour les herboristes, qui leur permettra de continuer à importer des matières premières pour leurs préparations. Les teintures en vrac ont été désignées comme des matières premières.
Nous gardons l’œil ouvert à propos de tout changement susceptible d’avoir une incidence sur notre profession, mais nous avons reçu l’assurance que la nouvelle politique d’importation qui entrera en vigueur le 1er décembre n’empêchera pas les herboristes d’importer des produits à des fins de préparation. Nous surveillerons l’application de cette politique afin de maintenir l’accessibilité.
En 2014, nous continuerons de tenir nos réunions régulières en ligne en mettant l’accent sur la mise à jour du site Web du CCAH, nous attendrons avec impatience la concrétisation de notre projet de longue haleine portant sur les normes et nous nous attellerons à de nouvelles tâches, comme l’organisation collective d’un rassemblement pancanadien d’herboristerie et du programme d’hommage aux anciens (de plus amples information à ce sujet suivront sous peu).
Le comité du Conseil canadien des associations d’herboristes