Editorial: from Canada with love

I was quite honoured and delighted to be asked by Deborah Collins and Patricia Maché to edit this issue of Interhomeopathy. I am privileged to be joined by my Vancouver colleague, Iain Marrs, who has lent his exceptional editing skills and experience to this endeavour. Since there have been very few articles published in the journal so far by or about Canadians, we decided to feature a few examples of good work being done here and abroad by our own homeopaths.

Jude Corfield, from Salmon Arm, in the southern interior of British Columbia, shares her experiences as a volunteer at homeopathic clinics in Botswana and Swaziland.

Closer to home, Lucy De Pieri, describes the work of homeopaths volunteering on the streets of Vancouver, among those living in “Canada’s poorest postal code”.

Three practitioners have shared interesting cured cases from their files, of remedies not commonly prescribed -  Katharina Riedener, from the Okanagan Valley in the B.C. Interior;  Allison Douglas - Tourner, in Victoria, B.C., and Gaela Nelson, from Ottawa, Ontario.

Given the vastness of Canadian geography, homeopathy in Canada tends to have quite a different flavour, depending on what province and which region the practitioners live and practice in. Since health care is largely a provincial issue, conditions and regulations vary from one place to another.

I moved to the U.K. in 1990 to study homeopathy, since there were no colleges in Canada at that time. Now, only 21 years later, there are at least a dozen such learning places, that graduate hundreds of new homeopaths every year. Reflecting Canadian population patterns, the largest concentration of homeopaths is in the three biggest cities - Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Styles of homeopathy vary, with the majority being “classical” or “uniciste” in their orientation. Others favour polypharmacy or “sequential” treatment". Many homeopaths, especially in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area), received their training in India or Pakistan, and have a more medical and physically therapeutic orientation, based on their educational and clinical experience.

Now, Ontario is also in a transition period, which will lead to homeopathy being regulated, for the first time in Canada. As can be expected, this is not a popular move for many of us. We homeopaths are, above all, individuals, who relish our freedom to practice in the way that feels right to us. On the other hand, acceptance by a larger number of extended insurance companies, is something that will benefit most of our practices.

I look forward to editing a few issues of Interhomeopathy in 2012. Watch for more articles by other Canadian homeopaths, from across the country!