ICA files "Complaint" Against Two Members of the WFC after Praising Work of Organization

Despite the new International Chiropractors Association (ICA) President's long term support of the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) Stephen Welsh DC sent a letter complaining about the behavior of WFC representatives during the March 2019 WFC Conference in Berlin.

In his letter to the WFC Welsh stated it was with a "heavy heart" that he was filing the complaint right after praising the WFC . . .

". . . for the excellent work done by the WFC in advancing the interests of the chiropractic profession around the world."

His praise ignores the decades long path of destruction the WFC has left for the vitalistic and salutogenic management of vertebral subluxation.

The "complaint" follows an embarrassing display of unprofessional and disruptive behavior of presenters and attendees at the WFC Conference in Berlin in March of this year. The behavior involved attacks on practitioners who focus on the management of vertebral subluxation. It included the throwing of water bottles onto the stage and clapping and cheering as the management of subluxation was denigrated.

Instead of denouncing the WFC for sanctioning such behavior along with the WFC's decades long attacks on subluxation and those who practice it, in his letter Welsh demands that:

1. The current Chair of the WFC Research Council be immediately removed from his current position and denied future participation in any activities on behalf of the WFC.
2. An additional member of the WFC Research Council be publicly reprimanded and sanctioned and prohibited from the opportunity to serve in any leadership role at the WFC for at least 5 years.
3. That the sponsoring organization that coordinated, reviewed and permitted the alleged questionable presentations be sanctioned for conduct not reflecting the professional, inclusive and collegial respect for the values embedded in the WFC Strategic Plan, Governing Documents and the WFC Official Policy Statements.

According to Welsh, and others who attended, the Chair of the WFC Research Council, Greg Kawchuk DC, Ph.D, compared bringing a child to a vitalistic chiropractor to bringing them to a Catholic priest at a children’s school.

According to Welsh this was:

" . . . so offensive, to so many people, that this behavior alone should be sufficient to immediately take the action recommended by the ICA. The demonstrated religious intolerance and blatant offensive behavior on a public stage speaks for itself. This behavior cannot be excused under any circumstances."

In addition to comparing chiropractors who practice in this model to child molestors, Kawchuk is also a co-author on a recently published paper titled: “Chiropractic, one big unhappy family: better together or apart”.

His co-authors include fellow subluxation deniers Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde, Stanley I. Innes, Kenneth J. Young, and Jan Hartvigsen. The paper which denigrates the practice of chiropractic in a vitalistic salutogenic, subluxation model was promoted from the WFC platform.

In a separate presentation, Hartvigsen suggested that subluxation was imaginary and the practice of using x-rays to identify subluxation and outcomes of care was "absolutely rubbish".

CLICK HERE for that story

Leboeuf-Yde and her colleagues have been attacking subluxation management and the chiropractors who practice that way for some time. Yet never a word has been spoken about it by the ICA until now.

CLICK HERE for more on Leboef-Yde

The difference is that the membership of the ICA has had enough and is starting to voice its displeasure with the ICA leadership. The problem is that the ICA is focusing on the metastasis of the Research Council instead of the primary tumor which is the WFC itself.

The ICA's approach to this most recent crisis with the WFC is no different than its response to the crisis with the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE). The ICA had an opportunity to stand on the right side of that battle but instead chose to endorse the CCE at the last minute pulling the rug out from under the subluxation faction of the profession. Since that time the CCE has further solidified its power and now accredits Doctor of Chiropractic Medicine Programs and not a word has been said about that from the ICA.

CLICK HERE for more on that story

In its complaint, the ICA also takes issue with the International Chiropractic Educational Collaboration (ICEC) and the WFC's endorsement of that organization. The ICEC is an anti-subluxation hate group group made up of 13 chiropractic institutions that have renounced subluxation around the world. This document is based upon and supports the theme of the World Federation of Chiropractic's Educational Statement formulated in November 2014.

CLICK HERE for more on that story

The Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (CMCC) recently proudly announced that they have signed onto the ICEC's Position Statement. They join the University of Bridgeport College of Chiropractic (UBCC) that recently signed on as well.

This is significant because CMCC and UBCC are members of the Association of Chiropractic Colleges (ACC) which includes schools like LIFE University, Life West, New Zealand, Palmer and Cleveland. In the 90's the ACC developed the ACC Paradigm which embraced vertebral subluxation. That paradigm statement can no longer be found on the ACC website.

Richard Brown DC the Secretary General of the WFC (who is an advocate for drugs in chiropractic) just recently praised CMCC immediately after it signed the ICEC statement.

CLICK HERE for more on Brown and his leadership of the WFC

Among other things, the ICEC anti-subluxation hate group's Position Statement includes:

“The teaching of vertebral subluxation complex as a vitalistic construct that claims that it is the cause of disease is unsupported by evidence. Its inclusion in a modern chiropractic curriculum in anything other than an historical context is therefore inappropriate and unnecessary.”

They additionally assert:

“Practice styles, which may contribute to inappropriate patient dependence, compromise patient confidentiality or require repeated exposure to ionising radiation are not part of an undergraduate chiropractic curriculum. Students should be taught to recognise that such approaches are not acceptable in terms of the best interests of patients or the chiropractic profession.”

The organizations define "Practice styles" as referring

". . . to routine ‘high volume’ chiropractic care models, ‘open plan’ chiropractic care models and the delivery of unsubstantiated ‘treatment packages’ or clinical techniques."

They also fully embrace the practice of immunization and vaccination:

“The chiropractic programs below support the World Health Organization ‘WHO’s vision and mission in immunization and vaccines - 2015-2030”

The ICEC statement is nearly identical to the WFC's education position statement minus the attack on vitalism, practice styles and x-rays.

The complaint by the ICA accompanies a letter written by Gerry Clum (who was President of the WFC from 2006-2008, a Council Member from 1989-2016 and an Honour Award Recipient in 2015) that is being circulated on social media urging the WFC leadership to get control of its Research Council which is being painted by Welsh and Clum as the sole problem.

Of course its not.

The hatred and disdain that the WFC as a whole has for subluxation management and those who practice it has been objectively evident for decades yet their actions were ignored by the ICA and its other supporters, sponsors and member schools the entire time.

These leaders have long told the rank and file that they were going to change the WFC (and the rest of the Cartel) from within and that is why they were working with them and holding leadership positions within them.

Despite many years of "having a seat at the table" the subluxation faction of the profession has nothing to show for it. Any objective review of the power being wielded by the subluxation deniers that now control the Chiropractic Cartel shows that the only change from within has been the complete marginalization of verterbal subluxation management. One only need to look at the wave of subluxation denialism that has swept through the UK, Australia, Canada and now the United States. Indeed the situation was made worse and facilitated by "leaders" on our side who gave the WFC credibility by participating in their scheme.

These latest attempts to feign outrage at the actions of the WFC fool no one except for those that have not been paying attention. Its an attempt to clean up a big mess that they themselves made and save face. And its apparent by all the praise Welsh and Clum heap upon the WFC as they harumpf over the actions of two people caught in the act. 

The WFC Research Council is a symptom of a much larger problem and unfortunately our side is treating the symptom instead of getting to the cause. Not only does that reveal deep ignorance regarding our founding philosophy but also a purposeful failure to apply it.

CLICK HERE for a copy of the ICA Complaint