Introduction

In April 2012, Ontario’s Office of the Fairness Commissioner assessed the way the Ontario Association of Certified Engineering Technicians and Technologists   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 Ontario Association of Certified Engineering Technicians and Technologists is subject to Ontario's fair access law, the Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act, 2006 (FARPA). The law spells out the association'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 Ontario Association of Certified Engineering Technicians and Technologists (OACETT) 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

• OACETT's registration processes can be started (and in some cases completed entirely) online, inside or outside of Canada.
• The Professional Practice Exam is available online, and it can be written outside of Canada, if appropriately supervised.
• OACETT allows each applicant to track the progress of his or her own application on the OACETT 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
On the OACETT website, provide information about and links to the Technology Registrations Canada (TRC) initiative, TRC's self-assessment process, and National Technology Benchmarks standards. [Required; Good]	February 2012
Place information about acceptable alternatives for experience and academic requirements in the Road to Certification section of the website, so that the information is more prominent, and perhaps format it as a table or list. [Required]	February 2012
Add a flow chart or table in the Be a Certified Professional section of the website, similar to the table in the OACETT Audit Report that outlines steps and timelines for the registration process. [Required; Good]	June 2012
Place information about the accommodation of special needs more prominently on the Home page of the website. [Required]	June 2012
Add information about how long the registration process usually takes in the Be a Certified Professional section of the website, in a chart or list that outlines the timing for each step in the process. [Required; Good]	June 2012
Place the following brochures on the website in the Be a Certified Professional section:	February 2012
Application and Certification Answers at Your Fingertips [Good]
Join OACETT - Build Your Career [Good]
Road to Certification - You Are OACETT [Good]
Training
Seek opportunities to provide staff with human rights training. [Required]	June 2012
Access to Records
On the OACETT website, add the Access to Records form in the Become a Member section and in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section. [Good]	February 2012
On the Access to Records form, state OACETT's document-retention policy. [Good]	February 2012
Impartiality
Develop a conflict-of-interest policy for OACETT staff. [Good]	June 2012

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