Mandate
The mandate of the Office of the Fairness Commissioner is expanding to cover trades as well as regulated professions in Ontario.
The office, which opened in April 2007, currently assesses the registration practices of certain regulated professions to make sure they are transparent, objective, impartial and fair for anyone applying to practise his or her profession in Ontario.
Starting in 2012, the office will oversee registration practices in the new Ontario College of Trades. The college, created under the Ontario College of Trades and Apprenticeship Act, 2009, will be phased in. It will be fully operational in 2012. At that time, the Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act will be renamed the Fair Access to Regulated Professions and Compulsory Trades Act.
The office requires the bodies that regulate the professions, sometimes called colleges, to review their own registration processes, submit reports about them and undergo compliance audits. These audits will enable the office to ensure that the regulatory bodies are meeting their obligations under the Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act, 2006 and the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991, as amended.
Specifically, the responsibilities of the office are to:
- Provide advice to the regulated professions about registration and other issues
- Set out guidelines for the content and form of the regulatory bodies' yearly reports to the office
- Specify the scope and standards for audits
- Receive audits
- Assess registration practices
- Issue compliance orders to the non-health professions, if necessary
- Report to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care about a health profession's non-compliance, if necessary
- Advise other government ministries about issues relating to the registration practices of the regulated professions in their jurisdiction
- Report to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration about the office's work.
In addition, the office monitors the effect of the Agreement on Internal Trade on the regulated professions in Ontario. The Agreement makes it easier for someone with a professional certificate from another province or territory to get the same certificate in Ontario without more testing and training. All the professions are affected.
The Mandate Precludes...
The Office of the Fairness Commissioner does not have a mandate to help internationally trained and educated individuals get their professional licences, and it does not assess credentials.
The office has no mandate to comment on the use of professional titles or designations earned elsewhere, as its mandate relates specifically to registration in a regulated profession in Ontario.
For information about professional licensing and assessment, you may read about the registration and licensing processes for individual professions.
You may also find the following four websites helpful:
"Getting Licensed"
The Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration provides information on getting licensed in a profession in Ontario.
Global Experience Ontario
Global Experience Ontario is a one-stop referral and information centre. It can help internationally trained and educated individuals find out how to qualify for professional practice in Ontario.
HealthForceOntario
HealthForceOntario is an access centre that provides internationally educated health professionals living in Ontario with information, advice and support on eligibility for professional practice in Ontario.
Ontario Immigration
Moving to Ontario is one of the most important choices you will ever make. This site has information to help guide you.
Background
In the late 1980s, the Task Force on Access to the Professions and Trades in Ontario looked into the requirements for entry to Ontario's professions, occupation by occupation. It found that few professions were free of discriminatory practices, and that broad, structural solutions were needed to remove systemic barriers to the professions.
In its 1989 report, the task force wrote that such solutions were "win–win" for the professions and for individuals. It pointed out that, in coming years, the growing number of immigrants would be increasingly important to the health of the economy because of Ontario's declining birth rate and aging workforce.
In 2004, the provincial government commissioned George M. Thomson to review appeal procedures within Ontario's regulated professions. In 2005, he recommended that a fair registration practices code be set out in law.
The following year, the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration held discussions with affected professional associations, regulatory bodies, and community groups.
The government introduced the Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act later in 2006. For the first time in the history of the regulated professions in Ontario, there would be oversight to ensure that registration practices were transparent, objective, impartial and fair, and that responses to individuals were timely.
The bill received all-party support in the legislature and came into effect on March 1, 2007.
- It sets out the Fair Registration Practices Code.
- It establishes the Office of the Fairness Commissioner.
- It creates an access centre for internationally trained individuals, called Global Experience Ontario.
In addition, the Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act amended the law about health professions, the Regulated Health Professions Act. The Health Professions Procedural Code now requires registration that is "transparent, objective, impartial and fair."
The Office of the Fairness Commissioner opened in April 2007 and maintains a small staff in Toronto.
