Introduction

In December 2011, Ontario’s Office of the Fairness Commissioner assessed the way the College of Optometrists of Ontario registers people who apply for a licence to practise in Ontario, to ensure that the registration practices are fair and continue to improve.  

This summary of the assessment includes commendable practices that are under way and recommendations for improvement.

The College of Optometrists of Ontario is subject to Ontario's fair access law, which amended the law about health professions, the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 (RHPA). The law spells out the college’s obligation to have transparent, objective, impartial and fair registration methods and requirements.

The Office of the Fairness Commissioner

To encourage accountability under the fair access law, the Office of the Fairness Commissioner (OFC) works with professions’ regulatory bodies to improve the way they register people who apply for professional licences. As a result of the OFC’s work, qualified people, no matter where they were originally trained, will have faster, fairer access to their licence to practise here.

In its work with regulators so far, the OFC has found that they have succeeded in streamlining their registration processes, but they need to do more. For example, regulators need to be more transparent and hold their assessment agencies more accountable for fairness.

To encourage, and hold regulators accountable for, continuous improvement, the OFC assesses their licensing practices in a two-year cycle. This cycle includes recommending improvements where needed and monitoring the bodies’ action plans that address the OFC’s concerns. This approach benefits applicants, the professions and the province.

You can read more about the OFC’s strategy for continuous improvement and its guide for assessments elsewhere on this site.

For more information about this particular assessment, contact the OFC.

Note: The words license, register and certify all refer to authorizing a person to practise a profession.

Commendable Practices

The College of Optometrists of Ontario (COO) is demonstrating many commendable practices, in the following areas. (These areas correspond to the sections of the assessment guide, and are derived from the fair access legislation.)

Information for Applicants

• The COO describes registration requirements and criteria in the application packages for a General Certificate of Registration and an Academic Certificate of Registration, as set out in O.Reg.57/00. Applicants can download both of these application packages from the COO's website.

Recommendations

The OFC recommends improvements in the following areas. (These areas correspond to the sections of the assessment guide, and are derived from the fair access legislation. Recommendations marked "Required" correspond to the practices regulators must demonstrate in order to meet the specific duties in the legislation. Recommendations marked "Good" correspond to the practices the OFC encourages a regulatory body to adopt in order to meet the general duty to provide registration practices that are transparent, objective, impartial and fair.)

Information for Applicants	Status
Make the following additions and changes on the COO website:	December 2011
Describe specifically how applicants can contact the COO for information about the requirements that may be satisfied through acceptable alternatives. [Good]*	December 2011
Add a link to the Optometric Jurisprudence Resource Binder, so that applicants can find it more easily. This binder provides fee information and details three registration requirements that applicants may be exempted from. [Required]*	December 2011
Provide specific contact information regarding the accommodation of special needs. [Required]
Identify which documents are kept by the COO and which documents are returned to applicants upon written request. [Good]*	December 2011
Add links to non-COO costs associated with the registration process, such as costs for third-party qualifications assessments. [Good]*	December 2011
In the Registration section, add a direct link to the International Optometric Bridging Program. [Good]*	December 2011
Documentation of Qualifications
Add more explicit information about acceptable alternative documentation on the Registration page of the COO website. [Required]*	December 2011
Training
Explore how other regulators provide special training for their committee members who assess applicants' qualifications or make registration or appeal decisions. [Required]
Explore how other regulators provide anti-discrimination training for their staff. [Good]
Transparency
On the Registration page of the COO website, post a plain-language "road map" that uses flow charts to explain the registration process for each category of certificate. [Good]*	December 2011
Impartiality
Plan and formalize training strategies that:
help to guard against bias, preconceived views, and undue preference. The COO would benefit from examining how other regulators are approaching this issue. [Good]
ensure that decision-makers do not undervalue applicants from certain jurisdictions or give undue preference to those from other jurisdictions. [Good]
Fairness
Develop a policy and process for annually reviewing fees. [Good]

* The COO implemented all recommendations marked with an asterisk before the OFC completed its assessment. The OFC commends the COO for such prompt action.

Blank = Implementation is in progress.
= Recommendation is implemented.
Acceptable alternative = Regulator implements acceptable alternative to this recommendation.