Ensuring Fair Registration Practices: Indianapolis, Indiana October 20, 2008 Nuzhat Jafri, Executive Director

2 Today’s Presentation ‡Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act, 2006 ‡Ontario ‡Office of the Fairness Commissioner ‡Mandate ‡Our approach ‡2007 Study of Registration Practices ‡Regulators’ reports ‡Audits ‡Next Steps ‡Conclusion ‡Contact

3 Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act, 2006 ‡Registration and licensing Transparent Objective Impartial Fair ‡Covers 14 non-health professions ‡Covers 21 health professions ‡Does not cover real estate agents

4 Ontario ‡Canada Canada’s foreign-born population grew four times faster than its Canadian-born population between 2001 and % of newcomers born in Asia Most immigrants settle in urban areas ‡Ontario Bigger than Texas, with a population of 12 million More than half of newcomers to Canada choose Ontario Close to one third of immigrants are university educated By 2011, immigrants will account for 100% of net labour force growth Competition for skilled professionals is intense

5 Office of the Fairness Commissioner ‡Arm’s length agency of the Ontario government ‡Independent of the regulated professions ‡First of its kind in Canada

6 Mandate ‡Ensure that regulated professions have registration practices that are Transparent Objective Impartial Fair ‡Require regulated professions to Review registration/licensing practices Submit reports about them Conduct audits ‡Report to the public

7 Mandate ‡Precludes Advocacy for individuals Assessment of credentials Intervention in the work of self-regulated professions

8 Our Approach ‡Collegiality ‡Consultation ‡Research

Study of Registration Practices ‡First comprehensive study in Ontario ‡Published 34 individual studies summary report ‡Measure future progress ‡What we learned Regulatory bodies making progress Applications up, but those from internationally trained individuals down Decisions often made by third parties Canadian experience difficult to get More Canadians go overseas

10 Regulators’ reports ‡Released Guidelines for Fair Registration Practices Reports Information Fees Timely decision-making Access to records Appeals Assessment of qualifications Training ‡First reports due in 2009

11 Audits ‡Independent examination of registration and licensing practices ‡Released Framework for Audits of Registration Practices Questions to pose Roster of auditors Timetable ‡Three-year cycle for audits First round of audits underway now

12 Next Steps ‡Analysis of regulatory bodies’ yearly reports and audits ‡Study of qualification assessment agencies ‡Guidance for analysis of registration requirements

13 Conclusion ‡Transparent, objective, impartial and fair registration and licensing are valuable ‡Faster, fairer access to the regulated and unregulated professions is good for individuals and will give the economy a boost, as more highly skilled people work at their full potential.

14 Contact Office of the Fairness Commissioner 595 Bay Street, Suite 1201 Toronto, Ontario M7A 2B4 Canada