Ontario gets it right - "Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act" passed

You wont see any news about it, other than the mention with this article - TheStar.com - News - Another first for Augustine, but the "Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act" was recently passed in Ontario, as championed by Minister Mike Colle.

Under the new legislation, measures will be implemented for ensuring the regulatory bodies that oversee various professions are "fair and open" to qualified newcomers.

To that end, audits of the registration practices of regulated professions will be conducted to make sure they are transparent, objective, impartial and fair.

While the successful passing of this legislation didn't make the press, here's part of a backgrounder from 2006 outling the key elements of it:

Ensuring Fair Practices
The proposed Act would require regulatory bodies to adopt fair and transparent registration processes by:

- Reviewing their requirements for registration including academic courses and work experience.
- Providing information about documents and credentials required to support an application or alternative options if an applicant cannot obtain documentation for reasons beyond their control.
- Providing complete information about how the registration process works, the approximate amount of time it would take to get a decision, fees required, and the criteria for acceptance into the profession.
- Deciding whether an individual is successful or not in obtaining a license within a reasonable amount of time.
- Providing applicants with written reasons for the decision.
- Ensuring applicants have the right to an internal review or appeal if they don’t agree with the decision, and receive a written response to a request for a review or appeal.
- Ensuring officials making decisions on registration, internal reviews or appeals are trained so that they have knowledge of the processes.

Way to go, Ontario!