SYMPOSIUM 2005 Counsellor Regulation in Canada

1. AGREEMENT ON INTERNAL TRADECHAPTER 7 – LABOUR MOBILITYImplications of Labour Mobility for Counsellor Regulation in Canada SYMPOSIUM 2005 Counsellor Regulation in Canada Réglementation visant les professionnels du counseling au Canada Vancouver, British Columbia November 21-22, 2005 Presented by : Brendan Walsh, Labour Mobility Coordinator, Government of Canada

2. Introduction • Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) • Chapter 7 – Labour Mobility • Objective • Extent of Obligations • Main Obligations & Exceptions • Consultation Process • Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRA) • Developing an MRA • Importance of competencies • Notification Process Annex 708 - Part II • Labour Mobility Coordinators by Province • What this means for the counseling profession

3. Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) • Signed in 1994 by all Premiers and the Prime Minister • Implementation began in July 1995 • Overall AIT objective: • remove and eliminate barriers to the free movement of persons, goods, services and investments within Canada and to establish an open, efficient and stable domestic market

4. AIT Ten sectors covered • Procurement • Investment • Labour mobility (Chapter 7) • Consumer – related measures and standards • Agriculture and food products • Alcoholic beverages • Natural resources processing • Transportation • Environmental protection • Communications

5. AIT • General supervision of the Agreement is by the Committee on Internal Trade • Implementation, administration and assessment of Chapter 7 (Labour Mobility) have been assigned to the Forum of Labour Market Ministers (FLMM) • FLMM created the Labour Mobility Coordinating Group (LMCG) to oversee implementation of Chapter 7 on its behalf • LMCG is a standing FLMM sub-committee, co-chaired by the Québec and Federal Governments. The LMCG Secretariat is currently located in Québec. • LMCG’s budget is financed by provinces, territories and the Federal government

6. Chapter 7 – Labour Mobility Objective : The purpose of the Chapter 7 is to enable any worker qualified for an occupation in one province/territory to be granted access to employment opportunities in that occupation in any other province/territory All Canadian workers are covered, especially those practicing a regulated trade or profession • almost all health professions, psychologists, social workers, teachers, accountants, lawyers, engineers, etc.

7. Chapter 7 – Labour Mobility Organizations involved (Extent of Obligations) • Government departments, ministries and similar agencies • Regional, local, district and other forms of municipal governments • Occupational regulatory bodies and non-governmental organizations with delegated authority • Other groups, including professional associations, unions and education and training establishments

8. Chapter 7 – Labour Mobility Main obligations • Eliminate any residency requirements (Art. 706) • Practices regarding licensing, certification or registration of workers (Art. 707) should be transparent and non-discriminatory • Relate to competence • Published or otherwise readily accessible • Recognition of occupational qualifications and reconciliation of occupational standards (Art. 708) is to be achieved through a process defined in Annex 708 • Parties retain the right to establish occupational standards and requirements (Art. 705) Each province/territory may adopt or maintain any occupational standard or occupational requirement to achieve legitimate objective and may establish the level of protection that it consider to be appropriate

9. Chapter 7 - Labour Mobility Chapter 7 (Labour Mobility) of the AIT brought a fundamental shift to inter-provincial labour mobility. Regulatory bodies must: • Set their standards or requirements by taking into consideration those of other jurisdictions • Collaborate and work towards a transparent, competency-based model for recognizing workers who are qualified in another province • Provide justification (based on competency differences) for any barriers to mobility (reassessments, re-training, delays, extra costs)

10. Chapter 7 – Labour Mobility Consultation Process (Art. 711) Objective : to resolve, as simply as possible and without unnecessary delays, any dispute that may arise between the signatory Parties as to the interpretation or application of Chapter 7 Timeframe : disputes arising from Chapter 7 one to be settled within 90 days of the notification Appeal procedure : overall dispute resolution mechanisms laid down in the agreement (Chapter 7)

11. Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) Article 708 of the AIT requires that each Party undertakes to mutually recognize the occupational qualifications required of workers of any other Party and to reconcile differences in occupational standards to achieve recognition Annex 708 describes the process to recognize qualifications • Initial assessment of occupation to determine the level of commonality in occupational standards across jurisdictions • Where a significant difference in occupational standards is found, either reconcile the differences (where possible) or accommodate the difference so as to minimize the impact on labour mobility • Reconciliation of occupational standards (if necessary) • Accommodation mechanisms (when important difference) • Where a high level of commonality is found, mutual recognition should be possible • Tools : • Profession/occupation : Mutual recognition agreement (MRA) • Trades : Red Seal Program

12. Developing an MRA MRA Process • Consortium - Regulatory bodies (signatories) - National and provincial associations (participate – voluntary) • LMCG coordinator occupational lead • MRA Template/Assessment • Guidelines • Consultant study (occupational analysis) • Possible / Partial Funding - HRSDC

13. An emphasis on Competencies Article 707: Licensing, Certification and Registration of Workers • Subject to Article 709, each Party shall ensure that any measure that it adopts or maintains relating to the licensing, certification or registration of workers of any other Party: • relates principally to competence; • “it is recognized that competencies and abilities can be acquired through different combinations of training and experience”. • Competency profiles provide a common denominator for regulators to compare their standards and requirements - a common set of definitions that clearly articulate the skills, knowledge and abilities required to work in a profession, trade or industry. • A shift away from credential-based model for recognizing workers

14. Notification Process - Annex 708, Part II • Two parts to the notification process: (1) Development of New Occupational Standards and (2) Changes to Existing Standards • For the purposes of the Counsellors, the notification process applies in the Development of New Occupational Standards Annex 708, Part II states: If occupational standards do not exist in the territories of any of the Parties in respect of an occupation and a Party considers it necessary to establish occupational standards for that occupation, the Parties agree that the process of development of new occupational standards should occur in a manner that will facilitate future reconciliation and avoid the creation of new barriers to mobility. A Party intending to develop new standards shall notify the other Parties of its intent and afford them an opportunity to participate in the development of those standards. • There is a trickle-down impact of one regulator’s changes to other regulators. The purpose of the notification process is to promote consistent jurisdictional approaches in developing new standards, enabling inter-provincial labour mobility

15. LMCG’s Role • Responsibility for implementation of Chapter 7 obligations assigned to the Forum of Labour Market Ministers (FLMM) • The Labour Mobility Coordinating Group (LMCG) created by FLMM to oversee implementation on its behalf. LMCG is now a standing FLMM sub-committee, co-chaired by Quebec and Canada • LMCG’s mandate is to: • Advise regulatory bodies of their obligations and provide support and advice throughout the process • Oversee recognition and reconciliation process (multi-lateral negotiation meetings for each profession) • Develop policy options to address recurring mobility barriers • Monitor and evaluate results of negotiations to assess whether compliance has been achieved • Respond to workers’ enquiries and manage dispute settlement

16. Labour Mobility Coordinators Updated September 2005 • NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR Gary Noftall (709) 729-6133 garynoftall@gov.nf.ca • PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND Susan Graham (902) 368-4603 scgraham@edu.pe.ca • NOVA SCOTIA Shannon Kelly (902) 424-4404 skelly@gov.ns.ca • NEW BRUNSWICK Sara Smallwood (506) 453-8663 sara.smallwood@gnb.ca • QUEBEC (co-chair) Jacques Vachon (418) 643-0808 jacques.vachon@messf.gouv.qc.ca • ONTARIO Linda Bartolo (416) 325-1969 Linda.bartolo@edu.gov.on.ca • MANITOBA Elaine Philips (204) 945-3572 ephilips@gov.mb.ca • SASKATCHEWAN Mary Didowycz (306) 787-9150 mary.didowycz@sasked.gov.sk.ca • ALBERTA Vince Athey (780) 422-5450 vincent.athey@gov.ab.ca • BRITISH COLUMBIA Cindy Williams (250) 356-2338 cindy.williams@gems1.gov.bc.ca • NWT Wendy MacPherson (867) 873-7146 wendy_macpherson@gov.nt.ca • YUKON David Power (867) 667-5455 david.powerl@gov.yk.ca • NUNAVUT Ed McKenna (867) 975-5921 emckenna@gov.nu.ca CANADA (HRSDC) Brendan Walsh (819) 953-7450 brendan.walsh@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca (co-chair) Kerry Lynn Lake (819) 934-5608 kerrylynn.lake@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca HRSDC PROPOSAL FOR FUNDING Nicole Roy (819) 994-1481 nicole.roy@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca

17. Recent developments / Next steps • Increased awareness and interest at the federal, provincial and territorial levels • Internal Trade Ministers, Premiers, federal government want to see progress and have requested that outstanding issues that create barriers to labour mobility be addressed • Labour Mobility Coordinators will be working closely with regulators to promote full inter-provincial mobility within each regulated occupation • For the counselling profession: continue working on competency identification and strengthening ties: focus on what unites you as a profession