The British Columbia Association of Kinesiologists (“BCAK”) is a not-for-profit society and is not a government authorized regulatory body.
BCAK:
- Does not have the legal authority to regulate kinesiology or kinesiologists in British Columbia under the Health Professions Act.
- Does not exist for the protection of the public, to penalize or fine members or non-members, or to prevent members or non-members from practicing kinesiology.
- Has a limited ability to discipline, suspend or expel members, and will only consider punitive measures if there has been a substantial or repeated breach of its bylaws, standards or guiding documents.
- Requires its Practicing and Non-practicing members comply with its Professional Practice Standards, Scope of Practice, Code of Ethics and other guiding documents as a condition of membership.
- Provides a public complaints process to give the public a voice should they feel a BCAK member has not provided competent, professional, safe or ethical care. The process serves to improve client care through the implementation of a complaint investigation process.
- Investigates complaints about its members to improve public service delivery, by identifying ways in which kinesiologists can prevent or avoid situations which are not in the best interest of the client and to then use this knowledge to inform the general membership on ways to to improve the care they provide to clients, including more transparent communication, skill enhancement and limiting service activities which they are not fully competent to provide.
- Only considers suspending or expelling a member if they have demonstrated a substantial breach of the standards or where multiple breaches of a standard have occurred, been verified, and the member has not implemented changes or recommendations put forth to the member by the BCAK to prevent such breaches.
The BCAK does not have the authority to:
- Order compensation for any harm that may have been done;
- To address business disputes between members or between members and other entities; or
- To direct how an employer supervises or disciplines a member employed by their organization.
(Any such claims, disputes, and actions are solely between the member and the complainant and the BCAK will not intervene)
- Investigate complaints against non-members and has limited, if any, jurisdiction over persons who were formerly members but no longer are.
Filing a Complaint
All complaints must be submitted on the BCAK complaint form.
Complaints must be received by the BCAK within 1 year of the occurrence of the act(s) or event(s) to which the complaint applies, however this period will be extended in cases where the complaint relates to act(s) or event(s) which:
- were not, and could not reasonably have been known to the complainant at the time of occurrence, or
- relate to a person under any legal disability, including persons who are less than 19 years of age, and adults with a physical or mental disability preventing them from knowing of the matter complained of, or acting appropriately in relation to it.
*All complaints will initially be reviewed to determine if the person(s) to which the complaint applies are current or former members of the BCAK. Again, the BCAK has no jurisdiction over non-Members, and limited, if any, jurisdiction over persons who were formerly Members but are no longer members.
Complaint forms received will be acknowledged at the time of submission (by auto reply), provided a valid email address has been entered in the Complaint Form.
Important points related to any complaint submission:
- If a complaint is outside of the jurisdiction of the BCAK, its policies, or the person is not a member, you will be informed.
- If the kinesiologist(s) to which the complaint applies is a current member, they will be provided with a copy of the complaint form and they will be asked to provide a statement in response to any allegations made.
- If the complaint is accepted for review, the BCAK will contact any other health professionals, individuals, employers you have indicated (referred to as "other parties").
- The other parties will be requested to provide a statement to the BCAK detailing any information they can provide in relation to the complaint, and may be provided a copy of the complaint form, subject to privacy legislation limitations, but are not obligated to respond.
- The BCAK may also request to obtain additional information through interviews with relevant parties and/or advice from other parties prior to completing its review.
- The BCAK will provide a written decision to you and the Kinesiologist upon completion of the review process.
Complaint Form Submission
There are two methods for submitting a complaint form.
Online Form Submission
- Access and complete the online form using the link below, which will submit the form to the BCAK complaints department email. (We recommend downloading and keeping a copy for your records) prior to submission.
- If you have additional relevant documents that you would like to include with your complaint submission, please send in a separate email to: complaint@bcak.bc.ca with the subject: Complaint Documents - from [your first and last name]
- Note: Sending unencrypted documents by email attachment is not considered a secure method of transmission. If you are concerned about your online privacy, you may wish to password protect any documentation you send to us by email, or you can send your correspondence via regular or registered letter mail to the address provided below.
Postal Mail/Courier Submission
- Access and complete the online form , download, print and send by letter mail or courier. (We recommend keeping a copy for your records)
- If you have additional relevant documents that you would like to include with your complaint submission, you may send include those along with the complaint form or follow up at a later day, as you have indicated on your complaint submission form.
Directions and Address for Mailing/Courier submission of the Complaint Form and other relevant documents
Mail to:
Attn: BCAK Executive Director/President (Private and Confidential)
BC Association of Kinesiologists
PO Box 64516
Coquitlam RPO Como Lake
BC V3J 7V7