*Prospective Registered Physiotherapists across Canada have been adversely affected as a result of the inactions of regulatory bodies to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Physiotherapy is a self-regulated profession to which licensing requires a degree in physiotherapy, over 1000 clinical hours, and passing the Physiotherapy Competency Examinations (PCE), written and practical components. The PCE clinical component for 2020 was originally scheduled in June. Due to COVID-19, the exam was rescheduled to November 2020, but has been recently postponed yet again to a tentative date in 2021, with potential for further delays.

As early as March 2020, candidates from across Canada requested that alternative methods of evaluation (e.g. including virtual examinations, clinical experience or audit) be considered given the expected course of the pandemic predicted by public health experts, and infeasibility of administering a high-volume hands-on exam in this climate. Other professions with a similar clinical exam, such as Medicine, Chiropractic, Surgery and Dentistry, have adapted and created solutions that abide by public health guidelines and permits access to exams during COVID-19 crisis. Despite our requests to provincial colleges and exam administrators to build a contingency plan and pandemic-proof examination process over the past 6 months, they have failed to do so. 

Academic institutions, hospitals, businesses, and healthcare providers have all made radical changes in response to the pandemic. Professional regulators should be no exception. The current delay in certification examinations has already caused profound financial stress on candidates including loss wages due to inability to work, working part-time hours to study for this exam, or lost wages due to interim status. Furthermore, it is mentally and emotionally exhausting to prepare indefinitely and maintain peak book knowledge for an exam date that has no firm date in sight. Further delay would exacerbate the adversities faced by candidates and prevent them from being timely certified to serve the community, especially in areas already in shortage of physiotherapists. 

We are now asking for public support to mandate provincial colleges to ensure safe, fair, equitable and timely certification by responding with alternative evaluations methods prior to November 2020.

*Please note that this is a new petition. If you signed a very similar petition you will need to RESIGN, as the old petition was deleted due to ownership technical issues.

**Also, note that any funds donated via this link go directly to Change.org, not the graduates. If you are interested in making a donation to our initiative please stay tuned for our funding account OR reach out to cptgrads@gmail.com.