We have an exciting update to share, and it comes with an important lesson about advocacy.

One of our fellow RDs took action and wrote to her MPP (as did many of us, so far) & she received a reply. The response she received suggested contacting the College of Dietitians of Ontario to advocate — and also pointed to 811 and Family Health Teams as ways the public can already access dietitians.

Here's what this tells us: our elected officials don't yet fully understand the difference between a regulatory college and an advocacy body.

The CDO's role is to protect the public and regulate the profession — it is not a lobbying organization. Suggesting that RDs petition our own regulator for fair compensation fundamentally misunderstands how the system works.

 And while 811 and Family Health Teams do employ some dietitians, access is limited, waitlists are long, and those pathways are reactive — not the proactive, prevention-first nutrition care that keeps people out of the hospital in the first place.

But here's the good news: we didn't stop there.

She reached out to me, we connected, and now she has concrete tools — infographics, data, and talking points — to write back and continue the conversation. That follow-up letter is where real education begins.

This is exactly how change is made. Not in one letter. Not in one response. But in the willingness to keep going.

Not everyone will understand our value right away — and that's okay. Every letter to an MPP, every conversation with a family health team, every email to a primary care provider plants a seed. Politicians are also members of the public. They, too, have gaps in understanding what dietitians actually do, what we're trained for, and why regulated nutrition care — delivered *before* the diabetes diagnosis, before the heart disease, before the crisis — saves the healthcare system far more than it costs.

So here is our call to action:

📬 Write to your MPP.

🏥 Talk to your family health team.

📣 Ask your primary care provider to refer to RDs.

🌐 Share this petition with your community.

Don't wait for the healthcare system to catch up. Start asking — loudly and often — for more RDs so that everyone has access to nutrition care before a crisis demands it.

Every voice matters. Every letter matters. Every conversation moves us forward.

Thank you for being part of this.