feature The Global Journey Evolving the profession in Canada and beyond Maria DiDanieli in conversation with WFC president Dr. Michael Flynn and second vice-president Dr. Gregory Stewart Dr. Flynn is a second-generation DC born in Davenport, Iowa, and a graduate of Texas Chiropractic College. He has represented the ACA and the North American Region on the WFC Council since 2001 and currently serves as WFC president. Dr. Stewart has served as president of the Manitoba Chiropractic As-sociation and the Canadian Chiropractic Association. He is a graduate of CMCC and currently serves as second vice-president of the WFC. I f one tries to form a snapshot of the profession of chiropractic, here in Canada and around the world, one quickly discovers it is a difficult proposition. The progress that the profession has made does not lend itself to a still-life composition, but rather is best captured as an evolution, looking back on its distant, as well as recent, past to understand its present progress into a very promising future. One would almost rate this flurry of ac-tivity within the profession, on a global scale, as fairly random and/or judge its efforts in each distinct country as relatively detached, if not distant, in their purpose, from that in other regions. But, in fact, if one examines the profession globally, the efforts on behalf of its members begin to appear quite systematic with goals converging on many fronts, such as scope of practice, regulation, education, research, leadership and identity. At home – across our Canadian provinces that, while united in their vision to bring chiropractic to as many as possible, vary in their approach to and execution of this goal – we witness chiropractic milestones on a frequent basis. The products of many of these milestones can be seen to fan out and influence the process of establishing chiropractic – helping it to grow – in many other countries around the world. Furthermore, Canadian DCs are quite active in assisting other nations in their efforts to achieve recognition with their governments and establish regulatory frameworks that allow chiropractors to prac-tise within established guidelines and local laws. One of the most active international agents in this respect is the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC). Based in Toronto, the WFC is made up of an ever-growing num-ber of member states from around the world. The executive council of the WFC com-prises chiropractors from a variety of countries, including Canada, an arrangement that coalesces experiences from a broad range of locations in order to bring a balance of 8 • Canadian ChiropraCtor | JULY/aUGUSt 2011 www.canadianchiropractor.ca
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