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B.C.’s College of Nurses & Midwives has suspended a Surrey, B.C., nurse for four months after he was involved in a religious ritual with a patient without considering their Indigenous heritage.

In a Sept. 23 decision, the college inquiry committee panel approved a consent agreement with Christopher Villaflor relating to a June 2021 incident where the ritual was performed in public without informed consent.

The consent agreement did not specify what kind of ritual was performed.

Villaflor voluntarily consented to the suspension, a one-year prohibition from being the sole nurse on duty, and one-year workplace mentorship. Villaflor also agreed to take remedial education in ethics, trauma-informed care, and cultural safety and humility. 

The college is one of 18 regulatory bodies empowered under the Health Professions Act to regulate health professions in B.C. It regulates the practice of four distinct professions: nursing, practical nursing, psychiatric nursing and midwifery. 

Similar legislation in other self-regulated areas, such as the legal and notary public professions, also allows citizens to know about discipline issues in the public interest.

“The inquiry committee is satisfied that the terms will protect the public,” the college said.