A Calgary massage therapist has been charged with sexually assaulting a client, and police are asking anyone with information about "this, or similar incidents" to contact them.
Calgary police say a woman received a massage at Kinesio Massage Therapy at 3949 17 Avenue S.W. on August 9, 2025. During the appointment, they allege, the therapist touched her in a sexual manner without her consent.
She reported it to police earlier this year. On July 8, officers executed a search warrant at the business and made an arrest. Yuriy Zhivov, 52, of Calgary, has been charged with one count of sexual assault. He is scheduled to appear in court on September 16.
The allegation has not been tested in court.
This is not the first time
It is at least the fourth sexual assault charge laid against a Calgary massage therapist in under two years. There have been others in Edmonton.
In November 2024, a 36-year-old Calgary massage therapist was charged with sexually assaulting a client, and police said at the time they believed there could be more victims. Further charges followed in April 2025 and again in December 2025. Last month, an Edmonton massage therapist was charged.
The Calgary police line asking about "similar incidents" is standard in these cases, and it exists for a reason: in this specific profession, one complaint frequently surfaces others.
Here is the part most Albertans don't know
Massage therapy is not a regulated health profession in Alberta.
There is no college. No provincial licensing body. No public register of discipline. Unlike physicians, dentists, physiotherapists, chiropractors and psychologists, massage therapists in this province are not governed under the Health Professions Act.
The title itself means less than people assume. "Registered massage therapist," or RMT, is not a protected title in Alberta. Anyone practising can use it. In provinces like British Columbia and Ontario, that title is legally restricted to people registered with a regulatory college. Here, it is essentially a marketing term.
What exists instead is a handful of voluntary associations, the Massage Therapists Association of Alberta, CMMOTA, CRMTA, and the Natural Health Practitioners of Canada. Each sets its own membership requirements. None of them is a regulator. Membership is optional.
The gap, in the profession's own words
The most damning account of what that means doesn't come from a critic. It comes from the massage therapy profession itself.
In October 2024, Alberta's massage associations submitted a formal application to the provincial health minister asking to be regulated. That application lays out the problem in plain language.
Associations do expel therapists for misconduct. But, the document states, those individuals "most often continue to practice 'massage therapy'" afterward. Because there is no regulator, being kicked out of a voluntary association does not stop anyone from opening a treatment room the next day.
The application goes further. It notes that Alberta's association complaint officers have seen an increase in reported sexual misconduct, "often due to predators recognizing the opportunity that exists in this profession." It describes why the setting is uniquely exposed: a client is disrobed, alone with the practitioner, behind a closed door, for an extended period, and the therapist holds considerable authority.
That is the profession asking the government to give it the power to police itself, because right now it doesn't have it.
Ten years of asking
This has been going on a long time.
The Transitional Council for the College of Massage Therapists of Alberta was formed in 2016. A joint proposal went to Alberta Health in September 2020. By early 2021, the group was still waiting for a meeting with the health minister. A full formal application was finally submitted on October 15, 2024.
In January 2025, after another round of sexual assault charges, the province confirmed it was reviewing that application. It remains under review. No timeline has been given.
Every other major regulated health profession in Alberta has a college. Massage therapy has a decade of correspondence.
What you can actually do as a client
Until regulation arrives, the checks available to the public are limited, but they're not nothing.
Ask whether the therapist belongs to one of the recognized associations, and verify it directly with that association rather than taking the clinic's word. Association members are required to carry liability insurance and are subject to a complaints process, however imperfect. A therapist who belongs to no association at all has no complaints body above them.
Ask about draping and consent before treatment begins. A legitimate therapist will explain what areas they intend to work on, ask permission before working near sensitive areas, and keep you covered otherwise. You can decline any part of a treatment at any point, and you can end a session and leave. You do not owe anyone an explanation.
And trust your read of the room. Discomfort is information.
If something happened to you
There is no time limit on reporting a sexual assault in Canada. Police made that point directly in this case, and it applies whether the incident was last month or twenty years ago.
Calgary police can be reached at 403-266-1234. Anonymous tips go to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or calgarycrimestoppers.org.
For support, the Calgary Communities Against Sexual Abuse (CCASA) support line is available at 403-237-5888, and Alberta's One Line for Sexual Violence offers phone, text and chat support at 1-866-403-8000. Support is available whether or not you choose to report.
Sources:
Calgary Police Service, "Massage therapist charged with sexual assault in city's southwest," July 14, 2026 (newsroom.calgary.ca)
Alberta Working Group for the Regulation of Massage Therapy / Transitional Council for the College of Massage Therapists of Alberta, "Formal Submission Toward the Regulation of Massage Therapy under the Health Professions Act," submitted to the Minister of Health, October 15, 2024
Massage Therapist Association of Alberta, regulation status updates (mtaalberta.com)
Natural Health Practitioners of Canada, Alberta regulation status (nhpcanada.org)
Alberta Health Professions Act
