Unqualified osteopathic therapist charged a 2nd time with sexual assault
Jim Norris has been charged with 2 counts of sexual assault after 2 patients went to police
A Winnipeg man practising as an osteopathic therapist has been charged a second time with sexual assault.
Jim Norris was arrested on Dec. 30 after a 47-year-old woman went to police reporting she had been sexually assaulted while receiving treatment between 2013 and 2014.
"I trusted him and he took advantage of me when I was vulnerable and needing help," said "Jane," who did not want her real name used.
"I want this man not practising anymore, taking advantage of people when they are going to him for help."
Norris was first charged with sexual assault in June 2016, after a 25-year-old woman went to police reporting that she had been sexually assaulted during treatments in April 2016.
"He has been formally suspended," said Tara Drew, the director of education for the CCO. "He is not allowed to attend any of the college's courses or communicate with the college until such time that he is either acquitted or charges are dropped."
The college defines osteopathy as "a natural medicine which aims to restore function in the body by treating the causes of pain and imbalance."
Drew added that it is a hands-on practice which assesses and treats the parts of the body that aren't moving properly.
Norris was a prominent athletic therapist before studying to be an osteopathic manual practitioner.
He worked with Team Canada volleyball in the mid-2000s and at the University of Manitoba Bison's Athletic Therapy Centre from 1998 to 2008. Both said they did not receive any complaints about him. He also worked in Romania in 2008-2009 for a men's volleyball team.
In an email statement, the Canadian Athletic Therapists Association said "Mr. Jim Norris ceased offering athletic therapy services effective December 1, 2015 and resigned his membership in the Association effective March 31, 2016; he is no longer a member of the Canadian Athletic Therapists Association."
Darryl Thorvaldson, the board president, would not comment further to say if CATA had received complaints about Norris or why he resigned his membership.
The Manitoba Association of Athletic Therapists would not comment.
'I definitely had red flags'
Jane said she started seeing Norris in August 2013 for treatment of lower back pain and migraines. She said she wanted to try osteopathy and Norris was recommended to her by a friend.
"When I initially met with Jim … he wanted to see where my body was at so … I was just in my bra and panties," said Jane.
Drew, who is also an osteopathic manual practitioner, said that is normal practice for assessing the spine.
Jane said after a couple of treatments, she was naked during treatments, initially without her consent.
"He kind of, a little aggressively, said these [underwear] are just in the way," she recalled. "While I was processing his comment he had already pulled off my underwear."
Jane continued to see Norris at his office at the Wildewood Club.
"Jim Norris is quite disarming, he doesn't come across as if he has any intent to do wrong," she said. "He would explain that there were nerves and muscles that ran down the base of the spine and they sat near the [genital area]."
"It made logical sense to me, and he would touch on those areas," she said, adding Norris offered to give her free treatments and eventually stopped cashing her cheques.
"I definitely had red flags, I felt uncomfortable which is why I declined."
Jane said Norris asked her if she would like to do her treatments at his home office on Kenaston Boulevard because it was closer to where she lived.
Jane agreed and when she went to that location there was no office, just a therapy bed in the middle of his living room. She said it was on her sixth or seventh session that she alleges she was sexually assaulted while he was giving her a massage.
"As Jim massaged my thighs, he would run his hands over my [genital area]," said Jane, adding he allegedly asked if he could stimulate certain parts of her body.
Jane said she was paralyzed with fear and waited for the massage to be over. She said when the treatment finished, Norris was naked and aroused.
"And when I asked him why he didn't have his clothes on he responded that he was hot," she said. "I grabbed my clothes, went to the bathroom, got changed, Jim had asked me to stay, I left, struggled with everything."
Jane said Norris texted her after asking her to schedule another appointment. She said it was at that point she told him she was uncomfortable and would not be returning.
New therapist, different treatment
Jane was in a car accident in 2016 and went to see a different athletic therapist, who was also studying to be an osteopathic manual practitioner.
"I recognized that [her] treatment was 100 per cent different than the way Jim Norris practised," said Jane.
Jane said this time she was fully clothed and her new practitioner did not treat her under her clothes or around her genital area.
She said talking with this practitioner gave her the strength to go to police and report Norris.
"I actually wish I would have went sooner," she said. "I should have trusted my instincts and my gut and my basic understanding of what crosses the line for my body."
Jane said looking back there were red flags, but says she ignored them because she was starting to feel better.
"I felt that Jim was making that progress with me, which is why I ignored his behaviours and continued with the process."
Norris did not complete final year
Tara Drew said Winnipeg police contacted her in June to inform her of Norris's arrest. She said the Canadian College of Osteopathy received a complaint about Norris and it recommended the victim report the allegations to police.
She said Norris enrolled in 2010 and did not complete his fifth and final year of studies.
"We have a high level of respect and ethics, not only for each other, but also for our patients and it was most disturbing to hear the allegation," said Drew.
Drew said the college is concerned that the alleged actions of one man may have an impact on its profession. She said osteopathic care is a growing practice in Manitoba and not yet regulated.
A patient should expect to be respected and [have] their level of comfort respected.- Tara Drew, director of education, Canadian College of Osteopathy
"Each province has its own health regulations. Right now, Quebec is the only province that is close to regulation," she said, adding that most osteopathic manual practitioners are already licensed as athletic therapists, massage therapists, or physiotherapists.
She said anyone interested in getting treatment from an osteopathic manual practitioner can call the college to see if the practitioner is in good standing and graduated from their studies.
"A patient should expect to be respected and [have] their level of comfort respected," said Drew. "The patient or the client always has the ability to withdraw consent at any time they feel uncomfortable."
Dr. James Church of the Canadian Osteopathic Association said osteopathic physicians are entirely different and are regulated in Canada, including in Manitoba. They have "11 to 13 years of university and medical, postgraduate medical education." They must also be certified and complete all the required exams.
"The COA is increasingly concerned by the number of unqualified and unregulated practitioners who are using our professional designations when not registered to do so. It is our opinion that they place the public at significant risk, and certainly are causing damage to our professional reputation," Church said.
Norris is due in court in July for the first charge of sexual assault.
After his December arrest, he was released on a promise to appear in court. That date has not yet been filed with the provincial court.
Norris's lawyer, Josh Weinstein, declined an interview because the matter is now before the courts.
"All I can indicate now is that Mr. Norris is cloaked in the presumption of innocence and is contesting these allegations," said Weinstein.
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