CAIN Takes Your Safety and Wellbeing Very Seriously

CAIN strives to minimize the risk and incidence of liability, injury due to practitioners stepping outside of their Scope of Practice by providing them with guidance to resources and direction to review the laws in their area.

To assist with protection of the public, we provide a registration verification tool where you can confirm details of your chosen practitioner(s) such as member status, history, education level & complaints.  

If you have a concern about one of our members professional services please read and follow the directions set forth below in the complaints process.

Please mail all complaints and concerns to the following address:

Canadian Association for Integrative Nutrition
Attn: Complaints Department
224 West Esplanade
5th Floor
North Vancouver, BC 
​V7M 3M6

Complaints Process

It is important that you review the steps below prior to issuing a complaint to ensure your case is resolved in a timely manner. ​
Step 1 - Submit a complaint or concern
Important Steps to Initialize your concern:
  1. Search the Practitioner Verification Registry to ensure person you are issuing a complaint about is a member.
  2. Your full legal name, address and contact information must be included in your report.
  3. Your complaint must be in the form of a physical letter, signed and dated by the person issuing the complaint.
  4. You must include the practitioners name, business name (if applicable), date, time and location of the incident.
  5. A detailed explanation of the incident in question.  Please provide as much detail as possible, including any relevant documentation you may have.  
Step 2 - Complaint review
Once received, preliminary review of your complaint will be done. This review will determine whether the complaint falls within our authority. You will receive confirmation of receipt of your complaint within 60 days and get updates at 60 day intervals until the issue is resolved. 

Types of Complaints We Accept:
  • Breech of CAIN Code of Ethics
  • Breech of CAIN Scope of Practice
  • ​Breech of Privacy / Confidentiality
  • Misrepresentation of CAIN Titles or Restricted Titles (This may be directed to another organization)
  • Refusal to provide services to a client due to ancestry, nationality, ethnic background, religion, age, gender, social and marital status, sexual orientation, political beliefs, or physical or mental disability (This may be directed to another organization / authority).

Types of Complaints outside our authority:
  • Disputes over fees including refunds for services or products
  • Disputes over group claims
  • Contractual agreements between members and third parties
  • Complains about Service
​
If your complaint falls outside or our authority, we will do our best to direct you to an appropriate organization or person who will be better able to assist you in resolving the issue. 
Step 3 - if cain proceeds to investigate
In most cases, CAIN contacts the member who is the subject of the complaint and requests that they submit a written statement along with any supporting documentation for us to review.

Once received, CAIN then decides whether the matter should be referred for a formal investigation, or if the review should be concluded.  In making this determination, we may consult Third Parties on what is considered “usual practice” in the industry.
Step 4 - cain determines a course of action
  • CAIN now determines the outcome of the review, and will let you know whether your complaint will be:
    • Investigated further.
    • Dismissed due to insufficient evidence or because the matter does not constitute a breach.
    • Closed, because CAIN lacks authority over the specific complaint —CAIN will do its best to refer you to another regulatory body if appropriate.  
    • Closed, with CAIN issuing a reminder to the member about whom you raised concerns — on appropriate conduct or procedures, and potential consequences of any similar complaints in future.
    • Closed, with CAIN providing best practice advice to the member about whom you raised concerns — in cases where improvement in practice may have prevented the circumstances leading to the complaint, or may have put the member in a better position to support their actions.
    • Closed with CAIN issuing a registration suspension to the member about whom you raised concerns for a determined amount of time. 
    • Closed with CAIN issuing a permanent termination to the member about whom you raised concerns and a note on their registry profile of the breech of conduct.
The timeframe for an issue to be resolved can vary and is dependent on many factors including response time of all parties involved, level of complexity and amount of documentation to be reviewed. ​​
Disclaimer: We are not a legal entity and cannot enforce the law on a federal or state/ provincial level in any area. Should we receive a complaint, we will do our best to resolve it internally which may result in suspension or termination of CAIN Registration including a note on their profile.  We do not have the jurisdiction or authority to cease a practitioners ability to practice outside of our organization. Should your complaint fall outside our authority, we will do our best to direct you to the appropriate organization or person that can better assist you.