Education

Naturopathic Doctors (NDs) obtain comprehensive and rigorous training with educational standards comparable to conventional Medical Doctors. Over the course of their education NDs have at least 7 years of post-secondary training composing of a minimum of 3 years of premedical studies at a university, followed by at least four years of intensive training at an accredited naturopathic medical school

cc_license  Sean MacEntee

The Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine's program includes over 1,200 hours of clinical experience and more then 3,000 hours of in-class lecture and practicals. Courses are focused on teaching biomedical sciences, clinical sciences, and naturopathic therapeutics.

Naturopathic Licensing

Before becoming eligible to practice, NDs must successfully pass 2 sets of the Naturopathic Licensing Examinations (consisting of the biomedical sciences and the clinical sciences) that are written after the 2nd year and 4th year of study respectively. These are standardized examinations that are used by all licensing jurisdictions for Naturopathic Doctors in North America and determine professional competency. Provincial examinations are also required to practice in Ontario.

In order to practice in Ontario, Naturopathic Doctors must be registered with The Board of Directors of Drugless Therapies - Naturopathy (BDDT-N) which was established in Ontario in 1925 under the Drugless Practitioner’s Act, Regulation 278. 

For more information about regulations, standards of practice, principles and policies of Naturopathic Doctors, please visit the BDDT-N's website.