Office of the Fairness Commissioner’s Continuous Improvement Strategy

1. Office of the Fairness Commissioner’s Continuous Improvement Strategy Nuzhat Jafri, Executive Director Sixth National Conference for Educators, Provincial Regulators and Employers of IENs Winnipeg, Manitoba April 26, 2012

2. Agenda • Context • Activity of the Office of the Fairness Commissioner • Continuous Improvement • Nursing in Ontario • Conclusion Office of the fairness commissioner

3. Ontario Context • Ontario population: 13.3 million • Membership in regulated professions • Largest: College of Teachers 230,000 • Smallest: College of Dental Technologists 500 • Proportion of internationally educated members ranges from zero to 40 per cent Office of the fairness commissioner

4. Office of the Fairness Commissioner • Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act, 2006 • Transparent, objective, impartial and fair licensing • 40 regulatory bodies • Hon. Jean Augustine, Commissioner Office of the fairness commissioner

5. Office of the Fairness Commissioner • Video Office of the fairness commissioner

6. Continuous Improvement Assessments of regulators’ licensing practices Specific duties, e.g., Information for applicants Clear, reliable assessment of qualifications Appeal processes General duty to be transparent, objective, impartial and fair, e.g., Registration policies are well documented (transparent) Decisions are free from bias (impartial) Canadian experience requirements are justifiable (fair) Office of the fairness commissioner

7. Continuous Improvement: Activity • Activity to April 26, 2012 • 33 assessments completed and summaries published • 258 recommendations • 304 commendable practices • Action plans received from 19 regulatory bodies Office of the fairness commissioner

8. Continuous Improvement: Top Issues • Top recommendations to regulatory bodies: • Provide better information for applicants • Use clear criteria to decide whether applicants are qualified • Assessment summaries on fairnesscommissioner.ca Office of the fairness commissioner

9. College of Nurses of Ontario • Membership in 2011: 155,817 • Internationally trained: 10.7 % • Applications in 2011: 16,214 • Internationally trained: 31.1 % • Top source countries: Philippines, India Office of the fairness commissioner

10. College of Nurses of Ontario • College registration improvements in progress, e.g.: • Faster registration • Fairer assessments for internationally educated nurses • Clearer information for applicants • OFC assessment: publication in July 2012 Office of the fairness commissioner

11. Progress • Regulatory bodies’ changes: • Reduced requirements for Canadian work experience • Speeded up procedures • Posted more information online • Ensured that qualifications assessment agencies do their work fairly • Office of the Fairness Commissioner identifies problems that demand vigilance and action Office of the fairness commissioner

12. Conclusion • Commissioner pinpoints where regulators must improve. • Regulatory bodies are implementing our recommendations. • Assessment of College of Nurses of Ontario is in progress. Stay tuned! • The Office of the Fairness Commissioner gets results. • In Ontario, qualified people will have faster, fairer access to their professions. Office of the fairness commissioner

13. www.fairnesscommissioner.ca • Newsletter sign up Office of the fairness commissioner

14. Contact Office of the Fairness Commissioner 595 Bay Street, Suite 1201 Toronto, Ontario M7A 2B4 Canada 416-325-9380 ofc@ontario.ca www.fairnesscommissioner.ca Office of the fairness commissioner