The Office of the Fairness Commissioner works with the regulated professions in Ontario to ensure that they have registration practices that are transparent, objective, impartial and fair.

It requires the professions to:

Examine their own registration practices and submit yearly reports about them
Undergo compliance audits
Review their registration practices to find and eliminate practices that may not be fair

The commissioner submits an annual report to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. The report highlights trends, issues and best practices among the professions and makes recommendations to government for improving registration practices. For more information, read about the Commissioner’s observations.

Is the Office of the Fairness Commissioner part of the Ontario government?

The office is an arm's-length agency of the Ontario government, reporting to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration every year. It is independent of the Ontario government and of the regulated professions.

Why is this office necessary?

The office is necessary because it is important to treat people fairly when they apply to register in the professions. People should be able to put their professional skills and experience to work, regardless of where they were educated.

For many years, getting registered or licensed in a profession was a long, complicated process.

In 2006, the provincial government passed the Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act . This act requires certain regulated professions to have fair registration practices. The act also established the Office of the Fairness Commissioner, to make sure the professions comply with the law.

For more information, read about the mandate of this office.

What is a regulatory body?

A regulatory body is an organization that oversees a profession and governs its members in the public interest. Some regulatory bodies oversee more than one profession: for example, the Law Society of Upper Canada oversees both lawyers and paralegals.

What is a college?

Some regulatory bodies are called colleges, but they are not schools. A regulatory body is an organization that oversees a profession and governs its members in the public interest. Some regulatory bodies oversee more than one profession: for example, the College of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists of Ontario oversees both audiologists and speech-language pathologists.

How will your office help the labour market in Ontario?

The labour market in Ontario is changing. Newcomers bring international experience and expertise that boosts the Ontario economy and helps Canadian organizations compete internationally. The Office of the Fairness Commissioner improves access to the professions and so helps professionals integrate quickly. Faster, fairer access to the professions brings economic benefits, because it enables highly qualified people to work at their full potential.

The Laws About Fairness

How many professions are subject to the Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act, 2006 ?

The act now covers professions in 14 regulatory bodies. The Office of the Fairness Commissioner will also work with new regulated professions as they become subject to the act.

Not all regulated professions in Ontario are subject to the act.

How many professions are subject to the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 , as amended?

The law now covers professions in 26 regulatory bodies in Ontario. The act will soon also cover four more professions (naturopathy, homeopathy, kinesiology and psychotherapy).

What is the Health Professions Procedural Code?

The code is part of the law governing each health profession. The code is set out in the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991, as amended. It requires colleges to provide registration that is transparent, objective, impartial and fair.

What are the consequences for regulatory bodies that do not comply with the law?

A regulatory body guilty of an offence may have to pay a fine of up to $100,000.

Does any other place have an office like yours?

The Manitoba government appointed a fairness commissioner in 2008 under its Fair Registration Practices in Regulated Professions Act .

The Nova Scotia government passed The Fair Registration Practices Act in 2008. It also calls for the appointment of a fairness commissioner.

Internationally Trained Professionals

Can you help me to get my credentials recognized so I can practise my profession?

No. The Office of the Fairness Commissioner works with Ontario's regulatory bodies to ensure that their registration practices are transparent, objective, impartial and fair. It does not have a mandate to advocate for individuals or to assess credentials.

If you are an internationally trained health professional, and you have questions about the health professions, contact HealthForceOntario .

If you are an internationally trained professional in another regulated profession, and you have questions about that profession, contact Global Experience Ontario .

What do you mean by "foreign-trained" and "internationally educated"?

An internationally trained or educated (or foreign-trained or foreign-educated) person is a person who has been trained in a country other than Canada to practise a regulated profession.

Does your office benefit both Canadian-trained professionals and internationally trained professionals?

Yes. Ontario's regulated professions must have registration processes that are transparent, objective, impartial and fair for everyone. The work of the office will help to ensure that people are treated fairly and can put their skills and experience to work, regardless of where they were educated.

Reports

What is a Fair Registration Practices Report?

A Fair Registration Practices Report is a report written by a regulatory body about its registration and licensing. Reports cover a calendar year, and they are sent to the Office of the Fairness Commissioner by March 1st of the next year.

Fair registration practices reports, audits and reviews: what’s the difference?

A report is a description of a regulatory body’s current registration and licensing. This is done yearly.

An audit is an external examination, by an independent person, of a regulatory body’s registration procedures, to make sure the regulatory body is doing what it says it is doing. This is usually done every three years.

A review is a self-evaluation, by a regulatory body, of its own registration practices, to determine what could be done better. A review is done when a regulatory body decides it would be a good idea or when the Fairness Commissioner asks for it.

These three things—reports, audits and reviews—complement one another. They are described in the fair access laws. They offer a system of checks and balances that, over time, will improve access to the professions.

Audits

What is an audit?

For the purposes of the Office of the Fairness Commissioner, an audit is an independent examination of an organization's registration procedures. The audit verifies that the procedures comply with the Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act or with the Health Professions Procedural Code .

Audits identify registration practices that can be improved and reveal best practices that could be shared with other professions. This kind of audit is does not examine accounting or financial practices; instead, it examines compliance with the law.

How does your office audit the regulatory bodies?

The Office of the Fairness Commissioner does not do audits. Each regulatory body hires a licensed public accountant from a list of acceptable suppliers.

Who is on the list of acceptable auditors?

All licensed public accountants are acceptable if they are in good standing with their own regulatory bodies.

When will regulatory bodies be audited?

All existing regulatory bodies will be audited by March 31, 2010 (see the schedule PDF 40 KB). New regulatory bodies will be audited when they have registered people in their professions for at least two years.

What do the auditors do?

Auditors examine a regulatory body’s records to decide whether its registration plans are transparent, objective, impartial and fair. They then compare those plans with the registration practices that are actually done. For sample questions they might ask, see page 6 of the Framework for Audits of Registration Practices.

Auditors judge whether registration requirements are relevant. If problems were found in a previous audit, the auditors also assess whether the regulatory body corrected those problems effectively.

Who pays for audits?

The law requires that regulatory bodies pay auditors’ fees and expenses.

What happens to the auditors' report?

Auditors send their final report to the Office of the Fairness Commissioner and give a copy to the regulatory body. The Fairness Commissioner gives a copy to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration (for non-health professions) or to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care (for health professions).

How will audits improve access to the professions?

Audits will help the Office of the Fairness Commissioner determine whether registration practices are transparent, objective, impartial and fair. With this information, the office can work with the regulatory bodies to eliminate unnecessary barriers to the professions.

Reviews

What is a review of registration practices?

A registration practices review is a fresh look by a regulatory body at its laws and policies. Are its requirements for a licence really necessary and still relevant? Does the body make its decisions in an efficient and timely way? Are its fees reasonable? For more information, read Reviews of Registration Practices.

Qualification Assessment Agencies

What are “qualifications assessment agencies”?

Regulatory bodies use qualifications assessment agencies to help determine whether a person should be licensed in their professions. These agencies evaluate academic degrees, evaluate candidates’ prior learning, assess competence in specific skills, and assess occupation-specific qualifications. They also run exams. They usually operate independently of regulatory bodies.

See a list of the assessment agencies.

What is the Fairness Commissioner’s role concerning these agencies?

The Fairness Commissioner monitors them. The regulatory bodies must make sure that the agencies’ assessments are transparent, objective, impartial and fair.

Why are they important?

Qualifications assessment agencies are important because 27 regulatory bodies rely on them to assess the qualifications of people applying to enter the professions. The agencies directly affect who gets into the professions and who does not. For more information, read the OFC’s Study of Qualifications Assessment Agencies, the first research study ever done about these organizations.

Study of Applicants' Experiences

Why are you doing this study?

The Office of the Fairness Commissioner is doing the study because it wants to get first-hand information from internationally trained and Canadian-trained people in Ontario’s regulated professions.