Strength in Numbers

The Ontario Physiotherapy Association (OPA) is a dynamic health care professional organization with over 4,400 members divided into 15 geographic districts across the province. Ontario has 6,300 registered physiotherapists representing 63% of practicing physiotherapists in Canada.

In 1920, the national professional association, now known as the Canadian Physiotherapy Association or CPA was founded in Ontario. Ontario was one of the first provinces in Canada to regulate the profession of physiotherapy in 1924 under the Drugless Practitioner's Act. In 1964, the OPA became the first provincial branch of the CPA.

In 1920, Enid Graham, a most remarkable Canadian physiotherapist, fought for and received Dominion Charter for the CPA. From 1939 to 1944, Graham chaired the Canadian Military Affairs Committee and succeeded in securing the granting of officer rank to all CPA physiotherapists who volunteered for overseas duty during World War II. 138 of the 340 qualified physiotherapists in Canada volunteered for overseas duty and were paid and had privileges equal to male volunteers of similar rank.

"Enid Graham is to the profession of physiotherapy in Canada what
Florence Nightingale was to the profession of nursing worldwide.
She was a visionary, a true leader and the ultimate champion
for the profession as it has evolved."

On December 31, 1993, with the proclamation of the Regulated Health Professions Act (RHPA) and the Physiotherapy Act, physiotherapists were recognized by the provincial government as one of a restricted number of self-governing health care professions. The College of Physiotherapists of Ontario is the licensing and disciplinary body for physiotherapists in Ontario.

From its inception, OPA has been a strong voice for the profession because of physiotherapists' commitment to work together through a united professional association.