Post on 01-Jan-2016
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transcript
“Regulatory and Registration Oversight and the Impact on Internationally Trained Professionals:
An Ontario Perspective”
Nuzhat Jafri , Executive Director Office of the Fairness Commissioner
TorontoMarch 2, 2012
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Agenda
• Fair access law
• Context
• Continuous Improvement and Assessments
• Conclusion
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Fair access law
• Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act, 2006
• 40 regulatory bodies
• Transparent, objective, impartial and fair licensing
• Hon. Jean Augustine, Commissioner
• Everyone deserves fair treatment when applying to practise a profession, regardless of where he or she was educated.
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Ontario Context
• Ontario population: 13.3 million
• Membership in regulated professions
– Largest: College of Teachers 230,000
– Smallest: College of Dental Technologists 500
• Proportion of internationally educated members ranges from zero to 39 %.
• In 2008-10, most applicants came from South Asia, U.S., South East Asia, East Asia
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Progress
• Regulatory bodies’ changes:
– Reduced requirements for Canadian work experience
– Speeded up procedures
– Posted more information online
– Ensured that qualifications assessment agencies do their work fairly
• Office of the Fairness Commissioner identifies problems that demand vigilance and action
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Continuous Improvement
• Assessments of regulators’ licensing practices
• Required practices, e.g.,
– Information for applicants
– Clear, reliable assessment of qualifications
– Appeal processes
• Additional good practices, e.g.,
– Registration policies are well documented (transparent)
– Decisions are free from bias (impartial)
– Canadian experience requirements are justifiable (fair)
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Continuous Improvement: Activity
• Two-year cycle
• Activity to February 29, 2012
– 30 assessment meetings held
– 28 assessments completed and summaries published
– Action plans received from 12 regulatory bodies
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Continuous Improvement: Top Issues
• Recommendations
• Commendable practices
• Top recommendations to regulatory bodies:
– Provide better information for applicants
– Use clear criteria to decide whether applicants are qualified
• Assessment summaries on fairnesscommissioner.ca
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Conclusion
• Commissioner pinpoints where regulators must improve.
• Regulatory bodies are implementing our recommendations.
• The Office of the Fairness Commissioner gets results.
• In Ontario, qualified people will have faster, fairer access to their professions.
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www.fairnesscommissioner.ca
• Newsletter
•
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Contact
Office of the Fairness Commissioner595 Bay Street, Suite 1201Toronto, Ontario M7A 2B4 Canada
416-325-9380ofc@ontario.cawww.fairnesscommissioner.ca