Colin A. Greenshields, DC: the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College’s first graduate

Abstract

This biographical study investigates the complex tribulations and impressive accomplishments of Dr. Colin Greenshields. Part I (the Formative Years) goes back to his ancestors in Great Britain and forward to his graduation from CMCC in 1948. Part II (the Professional Years) begins with the opening of Colin’s office in St. Catharines, ON, and proceeds through his professional career and multiple leadership roles to his retirement in 1986.

Beginnings (Part I: The Formative Years)

Colin’s forbearers hailed from England and Scotland. His mother, Olive Bradford, traced her ancestry back to England in the 1400s. She was related to William Bradford who sailed to the “New World” on the Mayflower, anchoring in Provincetown Harbour, MA, December 21, 1620. Rev. Bradford authored the “Mayflower Compact,” that attempted to establish a regulatory body “until a more official one could be drawn up in England.”¹ Colin’s father, James Stuart Greenshields, descended from Scottish relatives. His great, great grandfather was a cavalry captain, fighting Napoleon at the 1815 Battle of Waterloo.

Colin’s parents and grand parents were both Canadian born. They originated in the Eastern Townships, where they had land grants and owned farms and stores. His father, known as Stuart, was born in Sherbrooke, Québec; his mother Olive, in Granby. Stuart attended high school and Business College, in Bellville, ON, before starting to work, first in Eastern Township banks and then for the Imperial Bank of Canada in Toronto, where Stuart and Olive were married in 1912.

The newlyweds first home was a poultry farm at what was stop 32, Kingston Road, in Scarborough. During World War I, Stuart managed three branches of the Imperial Bank and trained with the Queens Own Rifles. In 1917 they sold the farm and ended up at 84 Pine Crescent, where Colin was born, July 19, 1920.

Itchy Feet

Stuart was being promoted frequently but a cousin lured him to California with tales of the vast riches purported to be found there. Arriving in Los Angeles, he quickly became a loan officer for the Pasadena National Bank. In 1926, Stuart moved his family to California by train, settled into a spacious property in Altadena, four miles north of Pasadena, and maintained his passion for birds by creating the Altadena Aviaries, a short distance away. Soon he was importing large quantities of rare birds from the Orient. His best customer was William Wrigley Jr., who acquired a wide variety of rare birds for Catalina Island, a property he was developing. The Aviaries introduced Colin to the world of work: cleaning out bird cages; conducting public tours; and collecting admission fees.

Surviving the Great Depression

In 1928 the real estate market collapsed in Los Angeles. The Pasadena Bank had issued mortgages at four times property values. The mortgages were worthless, the bank went belly-up and Stuart lost his job. To make matters worse, Stuart had invested heavily in bank stock which had double liability. The stock had no value but the government repossessed double its issued worth, seizing his home and aviary, leaving the Greenshields almost penniless.

Stuart got a job in Washington State as the manager of a chick hatchery and didn’t come home for over a year. Olive and her two children moved to Glendale and took part-time work cleaning houses. This was difficult because she was developing severe migraine headaches. On Saturdays, Colin received 25¢ for cleaning a neighbour’s home and used his wagon to collect old newspapers. It took him a month to save a garage-full, which he sold for $10. In 1929 Stuart decided to return to Canada. He purchased an old Studebaker automobile for $137, piled his family inside and began the arduous journey through the coastal mountain ranges to British Columbia (BC). Along the way the car required major repairs and when they finally arrived at the BC border, Stuart had to pay $300 duty to bring his worn-out car into Canada (see Figure 1).

Figure 1.

1915 Studebaker

The family settled in Burnaby because it was the cheapest place to live and Stuart bought a JR Watkins Products route, peddling household items door-to-door. Women, fearful of robberies, were reluctant to open their doors, so Stuart had Olive accompany him and sell cosmetics. However, Olive’s migraines were getting worse, many days she was unable to work, and they barely made a living. In the interim, Colin busied himself selling newspapers and by the time he left public school had saved enough money to attend business college.

Stuart got tired paying rent and bought a house with almost nothing down, costing him $35 a month, including taxes. Colin finished his business courses but there were no jobs so he stayed on and took senior accountancy, business and legal shorthand, qualifying him to do the work of a legal clerk. Finally, the college got him a job with York Knitting Mills, a company with factories in BC, Ontario and Québec. By age 19, Colin was in charge of a branch sales office, earning $70 a month. Regrettably, his father had defaulted on their home and in 1940, when an opening came with Watkins Products for the distributorship of the Niagara Peninsula, Colin’s parents and sister moved to St. Catharines. Fortunately, York Knitting Mills made room for Colin at their head office, in Toronto, where long, laborious hours got him promoted to a managerial position with the Hosiery Mills division.

Colin’s Introduction to Chiropractic

In 1935, Colin had been thrown onto the road, striking his head and spine, as he was travelling 50 mph on the back of a friend’s motorcycle. Although able to ride home, Colin began having trouble with one of his arms and consulted Frank Anderson, DC, his family’s chiropractor in Vancouver. After a few adjustments his arm symptoms disappeared but Colin felt nervous and jittery for a year afterward.

In 1941, Colin was still with York Knitting Mills, using Cardex and Rolex systems. These were complex and needed a lot of concentration. He began getting headaches. These got progressively worse, affected his vision and were not relieved by 25 daily Aspirin. New glasses, a variety of specialists and more medication were no help. Colin stopped working, lost his job and with no insurance was in physical and financial jeopardy. Colin’s mother referred her son to Jack Mullin, DC, a Palmer graduate who had an office at 45 Richmond Street, in Toronto. Mullin x-rayed Colin’s neck and declared it to be “in terrible condition.”

Mullin began adjusting Colin using upper cervical recoil methods, but seeing no results started adjusting him multiple times, using different techniques such as rotaries and breaks. One wonderful day he finally got Colin’s atlas to move. The crack could be heard all over the office and Colin’s head became unbearably hot. His eyesight immediately began to improve. Within a week he was able to read a book and his head pain had subsided dramatically. Later Colin learned he had a very low occiput. Over the years a fusion had occurred between the atlas and occiput. Once this fusion was broken the adjustments began to hold. Within a month Colin was able to start a new job in accounting. Eighteen months later he returned to St. Catharines to spend Christmas with his family. He was helping his mother clean out a cabinet when he walloped the vertex of his skull, suffering a concussion which recreated all his symptoms and made it impossible for Colin to return to work. This time Mullin’s adjustments would not hold.

Colin meets Benjamin Joshua Palmer

December 15, 1943, Mullin sent Colin to BJ Palmer’s Private Referral Clinic, in Davenport, Iowa. He was supposed to be there for two weeks but remained six months. Colin paid $125 for his initial two weeks and $50 a week thereafter. During this time he received 11 adjustments. This was double the norm, since BJ averaged one adjustment of a patient in 28 days. Colin’s adjustments were slow to hold but by the time he left the clinic, they had been stable for almost a month. Most of the time, Colin was adjusted by BJ and sometimes by Lyle W. Sherman, DC, a prominent PSC administrator.

The Referral Clinic was run so BJ could get through the maximum number of patients in the allotted time. This required 10 people to assist in retrieving files, taking neurocalometer (NCM) readings, moving patients from place to place and positioning them on appropriate tables. Five minutes after the adjustment another NCM test was done. If it showed a positive response the patient was placed on a trolley, the head and neck stabilized, and wheeled off to a rest cot for two hours. BJ would see 50–60 patients in a little over an hour.

Colin Enrols at the PSC

On June 20, 1944, Colin returned home and decided to become a chiropractor. The question was, had he recovered enough to withstand the rigors of the 18 month course? The Palmer School operated 12 months a year without any breaks, so it could be completed in a year and a half. This was during World War II (WW II) and Colin had been rated 4F (medically unfit for military service), yet Selective Service would only grant him six month temporary exemptions to study in the USA. As well, the Ontario Board of Regents now required applicants for licensure under the 1925 Drugless Practitioners Act (DPA), to have four years of education in a National Chiropractic Association school such as the National College of Chiropractic in Chicago, IL. Colin was warned that if he attended Palmer, he would never be allowed to practice in Ontario, yet informed the Board in writing, he was entering the PSC anyway (see Figure 2).

Figure 2.

Palmer West Hall, Davenport, IO

There were 105 students in Colin’s September 1943 Class. Colin didn’t arrive until November, however subjects were taught in blocks of two months so students could catch up. Colin had no money and borrowed the $500 tuition fee, payable in advance, for the 18 month course. Books and supplies were extra. His meagre funds were augmented by tutoring a blind classmate, who was sponsored by the State of New Jersey.

Classes ran from 8 am to 5 pm, five days a week. There were no breaks between semesters, no study weeks and no summer vacations. The only day off was Christmas. The load was heavy and Colin’s headaches and eye problems started to return. At the end of August 1945, Colin went home and rested for two months before returning to finish his training. Because Colin had been a patient in BJ’s Referral Clinic he was accepted for internship there, learning every aspect of how BJ operated from both perspectives. Average students only had training in the student clinic before proceeding to the adult clinic where they had to attract their own patients.

Punctuality

BJ Palmer’s involvement with radio and television made him extremely time sensitive. From the early 1920s until the mid 1980s the Palmer Broadcasting System was one of the largest in North America.² Top executives at the National Broadcasting Corporation knew him as Colonel Palmer, the wizard of radio and television, not Dr. Palmer, the developer of chiropractic. BJ wrote the book, “Radio Salesmanship.” In it Palmer declares radio should embrace rather than fear the emergence of television because these are mutually beneficial forms of communication and demonstrates that cutting words in radio commercials to a bare minimum is the best way to get messages across quickly and clearly. Ironically, when it came to chiropractic subjects, Colin found him to be extremely repetitious, explaining his “thots” in a variety of ways and quoting from voluminous papers.

BJ taught philosophy in the main auditorium from 8 to 10 am, every Wednesday that he was in town and the entire PSC schedule was geared to him. Because this was wartime, student enrolment was down to about 300 and comprised a lot of women. Many of Colin’s classmates were subject to military call-up and had to contribute to the war effort by working for example, in munitions factories from 11 pm to 7:30 am. If students were late for any reason, “BJ was merciless.” Timekeepers were on duty at the bottom of the stairs at 7:30 am. When the 8 am chimes rang, the timekeepers left and BJ started to speak. Late-comers were subjected to BJ’s sarcasm, were not credited for those hours, and had to take extra classes to make them up before graduating.

The Palmer Research Clinic

Promptness extended to the Palmer clinics, particularly the Research Clinic. Because it was geared to scientific accuracy, Patients had to be adjusted the same time each day, under similar circumstances. The central diagnostic instrument was the Electroencephaloneuromentimpograph (Timpograph), a complex device BJ’s electrical engineers began developing in 1935. In Colin’s time, two of these units were housed side-by-side in separate, shielded and grounded booths, encased in steel with mosquito-net copper wiring. No electricity or sound waves could penetrate the booths, but light and heat were filtered in through a screen. Unit #1, was powered with special, direct current batteries. These were not available during the War, so it was not in use. Unit #2 was built in 1945. Powered by alternating current, it was easier to control, measuring brain waves down to 5-1 millionths of a volt, because BJ believed this was the range within which mental impulses flowed. This Timpograph had seven channels measuring and recording time, room temperature, body temperature, blood pressure, pulse, brain waves and electrical output down the spine. Data spewed out in three or four, 20 foot long graphs. Colin had no idea how to interpret the data and BJ never explained the process. Consistency and replication of procedures were major problems. The instrument was so sensitive the slightest vibration could invalidate its readings (see Figure 3).³

Figure 3.

BJ analyzing a subject with his Timpograph

Lessons from BJ

Colin learned two important lessons from BJ Palmer. The first was that BJ’s adjustments were incredibly fast. Nobody had his speed and probably nobody practiced his thrust as much as BJ, motivating Colin to hone this skill three to four hours a day. The second lesson was visualization. Before approaching a patient, BJ studied the x-rays thoroughly and had a clear mental picture of the subluxation and the direction of force needed to correct it. BJ’s goal was to set the misalignment so the body could hold it in place and the vertebra would not need repeated adjusting (see Figure 4).

Figure 4.

Colin graduates from Palmer July 1946

Colin Enrols at CMCC

In July 1946, Colin graduated from the PSC with an exemplary academic record He returned to St. Catharines, then proceeded on to Toronto to enter CMCC in September. Colin negotiated his program with John A. Henderson, DC (Robbins Chiropractic Institute, 1911), CMCC’s first Registrar. Dr. Henderson lived on the second floor of what had been the Meadonia Hotel, at 252 Bloor Street West, and ran the College on a day to day basis. At PSC Colin’s 18 month course was considered the equivalent of three years training. CMCC’s four year, 36 month program, ran nine months a year. Henderson only gave Colin two years credit for his PSC studies and informed him that he would have to attend CMCC another two years to qualify for registration under the DPA. Colin requested the option of choosing his own subjects because he had already taken most of those offered at CMCC. Henderson agreed but stipulated Colin would have to keep track of every hour because he was not on any role calls. He also conceded Colin could graduate without taking any specific CMCC tests. The Board of Regents exams would determine his fitness to practice.

Life at CMCC

In 1946 Colin obtained a room on the third floor dormitory of CMCC’s original home. During the day, 227 students were crammed into small, overcrowded rooms where Colin “frequently had to stand or sit on a red-hot radiator.”⁴ At night, he had to deal with “partying, monkey-business and loud music until the wee hours of the morning.” The following year, Colin was relieved when a quiet little room became available on the second floor.

In the spring of 1947, Colin was granted permission to write the first six Board of Regents annual exams. This began the precedent of having CMCC students sit for the first half of their Board exams at the end of their second year. Returning to CMCC in September that year, Colin found that Dean Rudy O. Muller (Lincoln CC) had listed him as a lecturer on Palmer techniques for CMCC’s first post graduate course, to be held one week before formal classes began. Although only 10 to 15 chiropractors attended, it demonstrated the College was broad based and helped generate support across Canada.

By 1947–48, Colin was teaching palpation, technique, instrumentation (such as the use of NCMs), pathology, bacteriology and physical diagnosis. Sometimes when faculty didn’t show up, Colin would bravely fill the void. Once he lectured on BJ’s “brain cell to tissue cell” concept and how a subluxation interfered with it through the complexities of things such as efferent and afferent pathways in the brain and spinal cord. Colin’s talk closed to resounding applause.

Radiology

1947 saw the inauguration of an x-ray course at the College. Most students were WW II veterans. Some had extensive instruction and practical experience with radiation. When the neophyte teacher (a recent graduate of the Logan CC), realized he knew less about the subject than his class, he quit and Muller called upon Colin again. Wisely admitting he was not a specialist, Colin offered to give his pupils the benefits of his limited education in x-ray and invited them to share their knowledge.

At this juncture CMCC’s first x-ray machine was installed. It was capable of taking open mouth cervical, lateral cervical, lateral lumbar and full spine AP films. Colin appointed second year students Fredrick Clubine and Donald MacMillan to assist him in x-raying the entire student body. In order to obtain special rulers for marking x-rays that were graduated in centimetres from zero at the centre, in both directions, the College had to purchase 10,000 and they were sold for years in the supply centre.

Human Dissection

In early 1948 there were no human cadavers at CMCC and the anatomy instructors were teaching cat dissection. Colin wrote to the Board of Regents pointing out that the Board required the College to provide dissection, but did not specify human dissection and asking if it would accept mammalian dissection in place of human dissection. The Board agreed to Colin’s proposal, providing CMCC met all other anatomy requirements. This allowed the Board of Regents to license the Class of 1949 but did not solve the problem for succeeding years.

Branch 450 (the Chiropractic Branch) of the Canadian Legion received its colours during CMCC’s dedication ceremonies in 1947. Its president, Wilmer F. Trelford (CMCC 1950), used the Legion’s influence via the WW II veterans at the College, to lobby for CMCC to obtain human cadavers. Colin does not know what effect this had but on April 6, 1950, CMCC became one of six institutions eligible to receive human bodies for dissection in Ontario. Accomplished through Orders-In-Council, approved by the cabinet of Premier Leslie Frost (PC), it did not require amending the Anatomy Act.⁵

Graduation

In May 1948, at the end of CMCC’s academic term, Colin told Henderson it was his duty to graduate him. Henderson agreed but noted that Colin would have to wait until the first class graduated in 1949 to receive his diploma and then, it would be dated 1949 not 1948. Despite these irritations, Colin donated several hours a day to holding review sessions for students preparing to write the first half of their Board exams that month.

Colin wrote the second half of his final Ontario Board exams with ease, obtaining an average of over 94%, the highest marks ever recorded. Henderson asked Colin to rejoin CMCC’s faculty in the fall, but without a contract. Colin offered to teach two days a week until they could find someone to replace him and had already taken steps to open his own office in St. Catharines. In July 1947, Colin had purchased a home at 71 Pleasant Avenue, which he converted into an office, with living quarters at the back. Then, in January 1948, he bought a used Ferranti x-ray machine and paraphernalia that would allow him to take all cervical and chest x-rays plus fluoroscopes. Now all he needed was his license to practice.

Travels with Colin

The first three decades of Colin’s life were interspersed with extensive journeys in and out of Canada and the United States. Residing in a variety of locations broadened his outlook and deepened his understanding of human nature. For Colin, these were exciting times, over-flowing with opportunities to gain practical knowledge and inner growth.

From an early age Colin found satisfaction in work; whether it was menial labour, selling newspapers or managing garment factories, and his father gave him unforgettable lessons in the perils of financial investment and the advantages of thrift. Along the way, Colin became aware that the principles of salesmanship and interpersonal relationships are tied to the “Golden Rule.” Colin’s transformative experience was his personal discovery regarding the “wonders” of chiropractic and the realization that this profession was destined to be the conduit through which he would serve humanity.

Private Practice (Part II: The Professional Years)

In May 1948, Dr. Greenshields had completed his Board of Regents exams and was waiting for his license to practice. Colin’s registration number arrived June 19 and he was off and running. His office at 71 Pleasant Avenue was just steps from the city’s General Motors (GM) automotive plant and hundreds of employees passed by on their way to and from work. The first three months, Colin toiled without a break six days a week, handling emergencies on Sundays. In September, as promised, Colin returned to CMCC, to teach on Tuesdays and Thursdays, for the 1948–49 academic years (see Figure 5).

Figure 5.

Colin’s Office/Home, 71 Pleasant Ave, St. Catharines, ON

Shortly after Colin’s fast start, GM went on strike, yet his practice continued to grow because employees on the picket lines were under stress and had more time to consult him. His patients also had less money to pay his modest fees. Colin assured them he was willing to continue their care and they could pay as little or as often as they wished, once the strike was settled. His practice flourished because Colin concentrated on providing service, not collecting money, and patients responded in kind.

Although Colin specialized in upper cervical technique, he had been trained in full spine procedures at the Palmer School of Chiropractic (PSC). Therefore, he checked the whole spine, adjusting wherever he located nerve interference, which was occasionally found in the lumbo-sacral and sacro-iliac regions. In 1956, Colin purchased a rebuilt Ferranti machine from Robert G. Young (CMCC 1950). It had a 14″ × 36″ bucky on wheels, permitting him to take full spine x-rays at a tube distance of up to 84″. Other than that, Colin’s chiropractic protocols remained unchanged throughout his career.

Colin is a proponent of continuing education. As a new practitioner, he attended numerous seminars at PSC and in 1965 took some general philosophy courses in the evening at Brock University. In 1957 Colin started investigating how the mind influences the body, by enrolling in the Concept Therapy (CT) course in Rochester, NY.⁶ Later he travelled to other cities for advanced instruction and in 1963, he went to the CT Ranch in San Antonio, TX, to study under Thurman Fleet (Texas CC 1931).

In 1969, Colin was exposed to the Inner Peace Movement (IPM), which he finds a little broader than CT and embraces spiritual facets of human life.⁷ The educational arm of IPM is the Americana Leadership College, owned by Dr. Francisco Coll.⁸ The religious arm is the Peace Community Church, in Washington, DC.⁹ Colin took courses there, did some teaching and after five years, was ordained as a minister of the Church.

During his practice years Colin had four associates. The most enduring was Robert Haig, who partnered with Colin upon graduating from CMCC in 1977. Dr. Haig has pleasant recollections of working with Dr. Greenshields. “Colin practiced in one room and I in another. I used motion palpation to determine where and how to adjust. Colin relied on neurocalometer readings and x-ray analysis. Colin is a kind, considerate gentleman and I had no difficulty getting along with him. We accepted that our practices were different and learned from each other.” [Brown, Haig interview, Oct. 8, 2010]

In 1985 Bob Haig moved into his own office in the Glenridge Plaza and Colin reversed their roles by renting space from Bob. That September, Colin began cleaning out the massive collection of files he had stored in his basement, dating back to 1919. Over the next 25 years he shipped more than 40 cartons of documents and memorabilia to the CMCC Library. On December 31, 1986, Colin retired from practice.

The Niagara District Chiropractic Council

In 1950, chiropractors in the Niagara Peninsula organized the Niagara District Chiropractic Council (NDCC). Its founding executive consisted of George Marquis (National CC), President, Colin Greenshields, Vice-President and Ora Biggar, Treasurer. They held monthly meetings and provided a lot of current information to their 30 to 40 members. They also sponsored social events, public relations, and professional seminars.

In 1951 the Council hosted a lecture in the St. Catharines Royal Canadian Legion Hall. Chiropractors paid 50¢ each for tickets, distributing them without charge to their patients. Rudy Muller, CMCC’s Dean, delivered a “stirring talk” to over 300 people, followed by introductions of the doctors who were present. The event, advertised in the St. Catharines “Standard” newspaper, received a favourable write-up the following day.

Medical doctors had been purchasing specially designated vehicle license plates for years before Harold W.R. Beasley (CMCC 1949) decided this would be a good way to promote our profession. Although the Ontario Ministry of Transportation chose not to manufacture special plates for chiropractors, Dr. Beasley and Colin convinced the Ministry to reserve a number of DC plates, when these letters appeared in a specific jurisdiction. In 1953 the first plate, “DC 1” was issued to Harry Yates (Toronto CC 1920), then President of the Ontario Chiropractic Association (OCA), residing in Ottawa.

In 1968 the NDCC members volunteered to reduce Yellow Page advertising to the bare essentials and contribute the money saved to a fund for publishing chiropractic health columns in the St. Catharines Standard. Colin and Hal Beasley met twice a week to write articles on general subjects such as posture, spinal pain and headaches. For the first 26 issues they were published once a week, then reduced to once every two weeks, before the project died due to lack of sustained support by the membership (see Figure 6).

Figure 6.

Harold Beasley

The Canadian Council of Chiropractic Roentgenology

The CCCR was initiated in 1952. Its original directors were Donald MacMillan (CMCC 1949), President, Colin Greenshields, Vice- President, William Sundy (CMCC 1949), Secretary, and Wilmer (Bill) Trelford (CMCC 1950), Treasurer. Members, received monthly bulletins, written by Colin and Dr. MacMillan and annual educational gatherings which developed into the largest conventions in Canada.

The first x-ray symposium was held in the City of Hamilton, ON, in the spring of 1952, followed by Niagara Falls, Windsor and Ottawa before moving to Northern Ontario summer resorts. Eventually, Verne Thompson (CMCC 1954) switched the locations to exotic spots in the Caribbean and Europe. Most of the early keynote speakers, including Joseph Janse (National CC 1937), Earl Rich (Lincoln CC 1942) and F.H. Baier (Logan CC), came from American colleges. They were ably assisted by CMCC faculty; Don MacMillan, Colin Greenshields and Rudy Muller (Lincoln 1937), who had CCCR Diplomate status, recognized by the Canadian Chiropractic Association (CCA).¹⁰

A prime objective was to get chiropractic x-rays accepted by the Worker’s Compensation Board (WCB). The CCCR, with input from the OCA, prepared a brief. December 17, 1952, Colin, Don MacMillan and the OCA’s WCB liaison, James W. Ellison (National CC 1941), held a meeting with the WCB that produced a change in their regulations. “On and after May 1, 1953, the WCB Board will accept medical type diagnostic x-rays from Doctors of Chiropractic under the same conditions and schedule of fees as it does from a Medical Doctor…this does not cover full spine films, postural or structural studies … It covers good quality films of the immediate area of injury only, to be submitted together with a written report of findings.”¹¹ Chiropractors began sending x-rays to the WCB and in a couple of months their Board requested a second meeting with our representatives because many of these films and reports were unacceptable. Our profession was told to meet the standards or lose the right to submit films to the WCB. Fortunately we chose to meet the standards.

In the late 1950s, radiation protection in facilities with x-ray installations became a hot political issue and the CCCR stepped in to safeguard the Ontario profession. Aware that the Federal Government had a monitoring service, the CCCR offered its members a one month free trial of film badges, to determine the safety of technicians and staff, plus a control badge for the darkroom. At the end of the month, the badges were sent to Ottawa for evaluation. This was a quality service which would eventually become mandatory.

The CCCR’s supply centre opened in Toronto in 1958. Called the Canadian Chiropractic Supply Division (CCSD), it provided chiropractors with x-ray and office supplies. It prospered and soon moved to Kitchener. In the 1960s the College started its own supply centre and bookstore. By 1970, the two had joined hands, with CMCC receiving the profits from both organizations. This was an unhappy marriage ending in divorce, although another joint CCCR/CMCC venture, the establishment of a Canadian Fellowship program in Chiropractic Roentgenology, blossomed and survived.

The CCCR served us well for 40 years and was assimilated by the CCA in 1992.

The Drugless Practitioners Act

Prior to 1925 there was no effective regulation of chiropractic in Ontario. In 1925, umbrella legislation was passed under the Drugless Practitioners Act (DPA), and a Board of Regents was appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council, with jurisdiction over chiropractors, osteopaths, drugless therapists, masseurs and chiropodists.¹² In 1944 the DPA was revised and major and minor categories created. Chiropractors, osteopaths and drugless therapists were in the major category and each had two members. Masseurs and Physiotherapists had one member between them.

In 1952 chiropractors got new legislation when the Ontario Government removed the Board of Regents from the DPA and installed separate boards for the various drugless disciplines. This gave chiropractors their first independent regulatory board but the five members of the Board of Directors of Chiropractic (BDC) remained political appointments, the DPA regulations were unchanged, and the chiropractors resented having little control over their destiny.¹³ At their 1952 annual meeting, this dissatisfaction erupted, causing the OCA to appoint a Legislation Committee to investigate all matters pertaining to obtaining a satisfactory act. Hal Beasley was chair and Colin his assistant.

During 1954–57, Hal and Colin met over 200 times, developing a bound, 129 page report containing a complete review of all chiropractic legislation in North America, and recommendations for a new act in Ontario. “In August 1957 the OCA held an all-day meeting in Toronto … Beasley and Greenshields spent the day presenting the full report in detail, discussing the facts, the reasonings and the recommendations.”¹² This document formed the basis for subsequent representations. In 1957 the BDC instructed “Drs. Beasley and Greenshields to draft a new chiropractic act, with regulations, and present it to the Minister of Health.”¹² “The Minister declined to meet with the Board to discuss any new legislation and the proposal seemed to drop out of sight. However, the subject would surface unexpectedly later, but we had no way of knowing where or when.”¹⁴

In 1974 the political climate changed when the first six parts of the Health Disciplines Act (HDA), covering dentistry, medicine, nursing and optometry were passed into law. The Ministry of Health (MOH) struck a committee to make recommendations for professions not yet included; specifically chiropractors, optometrists, chiropodists and osteopaths. In 1975 a Chiropractic Liaison group consisting of BDC, OCA and CMCC representatives, was established to meet with senior MOH officials to discuss the chiropractic part of the Act. Negotiations were difficult, complex and protracted. The Regulated Health Professions Act (RHPA) containing the new Chiropractic Act, did not receive Royal Assent until November 25, 1991.¹⁵ On December 31, 1993 the RHPA was proclaimed and the College of Chiropractors of Ontario (CCO), which replaced the BDC, held its first meeting March 26, 1994 (see Figure 7).¹²

Figure 7.

Dec ‘91, Wingfield, MacDougall, Greenshields, Sutherland, Rosenberg, Barnes & Taylor, celebrate the RHPA receiving Royal Assent

December 1991, the OCA celebrated the new Chiropractic Act and paid tribute to some of those who played major roles in winning this battle. Eight CMCC graduates received special acclaim. They were: Robert Wingfield, Lloyd MacDougall, Helen Beasley, (Harold’s widow), Colin Greenshields, Donald Sutherland, Leo Rosenberg, Frederick Barnes and Lloyd Taylor.

Colin and the CMCC Board of Management

In the spring of 1957, Colin reluctantly joined the College Board. Frederick Clubine (CMCC 1949) was Chairman of the Board and President of CMCC. Herbert Lee (National CC 1941), was Secretary-Treasurer, and A. Earl Homewood (Western States CC 1942), Academic and Administrative Dean. Colin remembers pressing issues to be “student unrest, an ill-prepared and poorly paid faculty, financial difficulties, inadequate facilities and, disillusioned, non-supportive field practitioners.” Colin made numerous motions to rectify certain matters but was always outvoted. By March 1958, when he replaced Dr. Clubine as Board Chair, “nothing had been done” to address these problems.

Colin’s first move was to convince the Board to appoint Harold Beasley as Director of Education; in effect thwarting Homewood’s authority. “Homewood objected strenuously but agreed to respect the Board’s directives.” Although busy with the BDC, Beasley came to the College once or twice a week, gently guiding the faculty. By December 1958, Beasley and Homewood were interacting amicably, “the faculty was punctual, attendance records accurate, lectures up to expected standards and course outlines available for every subject.” Beasley considered his job complete and resigned his post in March 1959.

Colin’s second goal was to handle CMCC’s need to expand its physical facilities. One idea was to add floors to the buildings on Bloor Street. This was not feasible due to structural limitations of the Henderson Building and the Meadonia Hotel. Another thought was to sell the Bloor Street property and move elsewhere; “something we could not afford.” Finally Colin contacted Commercial Leaseholds Ltd. of Hamilton. This company was constructing commercial and industrial buildings and leasing them out. It made a rough offer to take over and dismantle the property on Bloor Street and construct an office building of about eight floors. The ground floor would house a bank or insurance company with offices located on the floors above and the top floors reserved for CMCC. The College would lease the facilities for 20 years at which time all these assets would be returned to CMCC, debt free. The entire CCA Board dealt with this scheme at its annual meeting, March 1959, “where it decided that the profession was in no position to venture this far out, and the idea died.” Between August 1957 and February 1959, the College purchased three homes on Prince Arthur Avenue, which backed onto its existing property. By April 1959, CMCC had devised elaborate plans for developing its holdings. These comprised: building a physical education plant abutting the Henderson Building; and replacing the Meadonia Hotel with a high rise office building. “On April 30, 1959, the College was advised that the City was expropriating a strip of land 82 ft wide running east and west through the central portion of its property …”¹⁶ This dashed all hopes of expansion for eight years (see Figure 8).

Figure 8.

Proposed new CMCC Bloor St. facility, c. 1960

Colin was re-elected to the CMCC Board in March 1959 and announced that he was not running for Chair or President. Instead, he recommended that Homewood be nominated for both positions. This controversial proposition was ratified by the Board and accepted by Homewood with the proviso that Colin would stand for Vice-President and serve alongside him. Colin believed Homewood was “capable of doing the job,” and making him President, Chair and Dean, would eliminate “much of the present friction.”

Colin stepped down from the CMCC Board at the end of 1959. Dr. Homewood resigned from the College in August 1961 but returned in the summer of 1966 to raise funds. “Between December 1966 and April 1977, he sold $250,000 in debentures bearing interest at 7% per annum, to the chiropractic profession across Canada. This money was used to help pay off a $500,000 mortgage at 12% interest.¹⁷

OHIP

June 1961 the Canadian Government established the Royal Commission on Health Services, headed by Chief Justice Emmett Hall, of the Superior Court of Saskatchewan. That summer, the Commission held organizational meetings in Ottawa to establish ground rules for its activities and invited members of the health professions to appear before it, expressing their opinions and desires. Harold Beasley and Colin were the only chiropractors who attended, delivering preliminary information on behalf of the BDC, stating chiropractors were willing to cooperate and wished to be part of any national plan. These introductory meetings were followed by hearings in the capitals of each province across Canada. Harold and Colin prepared a brief for the BDC and another all encompassing document for the Canadian profession. Dr. Sutherland was largely responsible for the CCA and OCA briefs, while each of the other provinces drafted their own. Harold and Colin also represented the BDC at final rebuttal sessions in Ottawa.

In 1964 the Ontario Medical Services Insurance Committee conducted an Inquiry under the chairmanship of Dr. J.G. Hagey, President of the University of Waterloo. While similar to the Hall Commission, it tried to keep the investigation within provincial guidelines. Hal and Colin presented and defended a suitable brief at one of the hearings.

1969–70, chiropractors began a letter writing campaign for inclusion in OHSIP (now OHIP). Niagara region doctors had their patients sign petitions and write letters to their members of Parliament. In St. Catharines, they collected over 2,000 signatures. Colin took them to Robert Welch, MPP, the Deputy Premier of Ontario, who looked at the list and was surprised to find his father’s name there. Colin feels that Robert Welch had as much to do with our entry into OHIP, July 1, 1970, as Tom Wells, MPP, and prominent chiropractors like Lloyd MacDougall and Lloyd Taylor. “In other words, it was a team effort.”

CMCC Accreditation

In 1978 the CCA formed and sponsored an independent accrediting agency called the Council on Chiropractic Education (Canada) Inc.¹⁸ Thomas D. Maxwell (CMCC 1955), President of CCE (C), appointed Colin to its evaluation team in 1979 and the following year he and Leonard J. Faye (CMCC 1960), were sent for training to California, as observers on the CCE USA inspection team that was examining the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic.

Colin was the only Canadian member of the visitation team that examined CMCC for CCE(C) November 16–18, 1981. The team’s report acknowledged that “This college has developed creditable programs with successful graduates practicing throughout the world – in spite of almost overwhelming obstacles,” while cautioning that, “a great need exists to complete improvements now underway, as well as those planned.”¹⁹ CMCC obtained Recognized Candidate for Accreditation Status in March 1982, but did not achieve full Accredited Status from the CCE(C) Commission on Accreditation, until November 22, 1986. Colin had resigned from CCE(C) in January 1985.

Retirement

Colin left the CMCC Board in 1959 and private practice in 1986, yet his thoughts and deeds remain intimately tied to his profession and this College. For example, in the 1970s Colin was pleased to provide the CMCC student body with a complimentary, two day, “Weekend with the Palmers” seminar, which was well attended and gratefully received. Twenty years later (September 16, 1997) Colin was still helping. That day he delivered a two hour lecture on the research of BJ Palmer and its current applications.²⁰

In 1996, Colin celebrated his 50^th anniversary as a chiropractor. At a luncheon in the Palmer Mansion of the PCC, he accepted a medal, for “50 Years of Service to Chiropractic and Humanity.” Colin responded with gracious remarks about his education at Palmer and CMCC, noting that when he first attended CMCC in 1946, “innate was a dirty word that I dared not mention.”²¹ During his career Colin received a dozen awards including the prestigious OCA Chiropractor of the Year and Life Memberships in CMCC, the CCA and the NDCS (see Figure 9).

Figure 9.

Colin’s 80^th birthday – Son Christopher on his right & Duncan on his left

September 2000, Colin’s sons, Duncan and Christopher, organized his belated 80^th birthday party. One hundred and seventy-five colleagues, friends and patients attended this celebration in the Niagara Suites Hotel, Thorold, ON. One highlight of the event was the announcement of an Annual CMCC Colin A. Greenshields Award. This bursary, presented in Colin’s name, goes “to a student in financial need, who has completed Year I and demonstrates a high degree of commitment to the chiropractic profession and a dedication to the needs of others.”

Colin himself fits these criteria, particularly in regard to CMCC, where he has been a dues paying member since 1948, and a generous contributor to the College’s fund raising ventures, including the Capital Campaign, to pay for our Leslie Street campus.

In 2000, Colin’s eyesight started to deteriorate and he had to stop driving. In 2002 he moved to the Anchor Pointe Residence in St. Catharines, where he celebrated his 91^st birthday on July 19, 2011. Dr. Greenshields is now legally blind and sees only shadows, yet his step is firm, his hearing acute, his memory remarkable and his spirits high (see Figure 10).

Figure 10.

Anchor Pointe Retirement Home, St. Catharines, ON