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Registration Practices Assessment Report — Summary

COLLEGE OF CHIROPRACTORS OF ONTARIO (CCO):

Introduction

In September 2011, Ontario’s Office of the Fairness Commissioner assessed the way the College of Chiropractors 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 Chiropractors 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.

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Commendable Practices

The College of Chiropractors of Ontario (CCO) 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 CCO's website has an identified area for applicants, providing specific information on the requirements, process and fees for registration. The website also contains other information, such as resources for the legislation and ethics examination.

Documentation of Qualifications

  • The CCO provides clear and concise information about the documents that must accompany an application. Also, it has a process that applicants can follow to provide the CCO with alternative documentation if the required document is unobtainable.

Transparency

  • CCO registration policies and criteria are well-documented, clear, and easy to find.

Impartiality

  • The CCO takes the following measures to ensure that decisions are made free from bias:
    • Applicants have no direct communication with the registration committee members.
    • The CCO has a conflict-of-interest policy, and members who declare a conflict do not participate in decisions.
    • The CCO's council and committees follow Robert's Rules of Order.
    • Representation on the council and the registration committee is diverse.

Fairness

  • The CCO does not require an applicant to have Canadian work experience in order to be registered.
  • The CCO has made efforts to streamline its registration process and has ensured that unnecessary steps have been eliminated.

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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
  • Currently, there are no acceptable alternative ways that an applicant can meet the CCO's registration requirements. However, the CCO is involved in a project that is looking into how credentials from different chiropractic programs around the world compare with each other. The project is being done at the national level by the Credential Assessment Task Force, which is a task force of the Canadian Federation of Chiropractic Regulatory and Educational Accrediting Boards. Recommendations from this project may have an influence on how the CCO defines its own qualifications requirements. The recommendations are expected to be released in October 2011. The OFC recommends that the CCO make these recommendations publicly available, to inform applicants. [Good]
 
  • All requirements that are subject to exemptions are described only in Ontario Regulation 137/11 under the Chiropractic Act, 1991, not on the CCO website or in other information for applicants. The OFC recommends that the CCO make this information available in the Registration section of its website, or provide links to the section of the regulation that identifies requirements that are subject to exemption. [Good]

August 2012
  • The OFC recommends that the CCO advise the public, in English and French, that information is available in French upon request. [Good]
 
  • The OFC recommends that the CCO outline its registration process (for example, by using a flowchart that shows the registration steps in order, and that provides information and identifies documentation required at each step). This would help applicants clearly understand the process and the steps required. [Required]

September 2012
  • The OFC recommends that the CCO include the following in the Registration section of its website:

August 2012
  • estimated timelines for each stage in the registration process [Good]

August 2012
  • the fees involved at each stage in the registration process [Good]

August 2012
  • a statement that all registration processes are the same for internationally and domestically trained applicants [Good]

August 2012
  • information identifying the registration steps that can be completed outside of Canada (for example, applying for an exam; gathering documentation, such as "good standing" documentation; and assessing whether the applicant has completed an accredited or unaccredited program) [Good]

August 2012

Assessment of Qualifications

 
  • The CCO has only an indirect influence on the assessment of applicants' qualifications, because most of the qualifications assessments are done at the national level by third parties, such as the Canadian Federation of Chiropractic Regulatory and Educational Accrediting Boards (CFCREAB) and the Canadian Chiropractic Examining Board (CCEB). Qualifications assessment is being addressed at the national level in 2011 by the CFCREAB's Credential Assessment Task Force, and recommendations are expected in October 2011. The OFC recommends that the CCO post on its website any recommendations from the report that relate to qualifications assessment. [Required]
 
  • The OFC recommends that the CCO do the following on its website:

September 2012
  • Make clear that applicants' language proficiency is determined by their ability to understand and successfully complete the required exams in English or in French. [Good]

August 2012
  • Provide a step-by-step description of what happens if an application is rejected, and links to any relevant information from the CCO's qualifications assessment agencies. [Required]

September 2012
  • Describe the registration process and provide a link to the rewrite policy for the legislation and ethics exam. The description should include links to any relevant information from the CCO's qualifications assessment agencies about appealing qualifications assessments. [Required]

August 2012
  • Some registration steps can be completed outside of Canada (for example, applying for an exam; gathering documentation, such as "good standing" documentation; and assessing whether the applicant has completed an accredited or unaccredited program). The OFC recommends that the CCO work with the CCEB to enable other registration steps, such as qualifications assessment, to be completed outside of Canada. [Good]
 

Training

 
  • The OFC recommends that the CCO consider providing anti-discrimination and cultural diversity training to both staff and registration committee members. [Good]
 

Fairness

 
  • The OFC recommends that the CCO justify its registration requirements by explaining the relationship between these requirements and the competencies and standards that the CCO has identified as essential for entry to the profession. [Good]

September 2012
Blank = Implementation is in progress.
= Recommendation is implemented.
Acceptable alternative = Regulator implements acceptable alternative to this recommendation.

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