|
This section provides a guide to selected access resources that
are not available through the internet.
Access!
Task Force on Access to Professions and Trades in Ontario (1989)
The
1989 Access! Task Force Report conducted a comprehensive
analysis of the systemic barriers to foreign credential recognition.
The report acknowledges the primary obligation of occupational bodies
is to protect the public interest with respect to health, safety,
and welfare. The report states that in fulfilling this obligation,
the bodies must also consider the duty to respect an individual's
right to equality of opportunity and to equal treatment without
unreasonable discrimination. The report goes on to review the barriers
to entry, including:
- Lack
of clear information about professional standards and registration
requirements
- Problems
getting academic qualifications and experience recognized
- Registration
exams may not give a full or fair reflection of individuals' actual
knowledge and skills
- Language
tests may not test the skills actually required to practice the
occupation
- Lack
of upgrading and bridge training opportunities
- Lack
of internal appeal mechanisms
The
report finds that the assessment of equivalency is the stage that
is the least standardized and most difficult for applicants. It
recommends a Prior Learning Assessment Network (PLAN) to address
the problems in assessing equivalency. The PLAN proposal was recommended
as a move away from a certificate-based system toward a competency-based
system.
The
Access! report also looks at whether the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms applies to licensing bodies. It reviews admissions criteria,
appeal requirements and additional examinations for internationally
trained candidates and concludes that the Charter may apply if the
licensing practices are found to be discriminatory.
Cumming,
Lee & Oreopolous, Access! Task Force on Access to Professions
and Trades in Ontario, 1989, Queen's Printer for Ontario.
See
Summary of Access! Task Force*
by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.
 *File
is in PDF format. Download
Acrobat Reader for free.
Other Resources
- Foreign
Academic Credential Assessment Services
Price-Waterhouse. (1998). Foreign Academic Credential Assessment
Services: Business Assessment Final Report. Prepared for the
Access to Professions and Trades Unit (Ministry of Training, Colleges
& Universities).
- Immigrant
Success in the Knowledge Economy
Immigrant Success in the Knowledge Economy: Institutional Change
and the Immigrant Experience in Canada, 1970-1995.Toronto Centre
for Industrial Relations and Department of Sociology, University
of Toronto 2000.
- Measuring
Down
Reitz, J.(1998). Measuring Down. In C. Davies ed. Post-2000:
Business Wisdom for the Next Century. 1998, Toronto: Key Porter
Books, pp 157-163. This paper examines the effects of under-utilizing
immigrant skills in Canadian professions
- PLA/Remediation
Project
The Canadian Alliance of Physiotherapy Regulators has a PLA/remediation
project, funded by the MTCU, APT Unit. The College of Physiotherapists
of Ontario has published a manual to share the profession's approach
to evaluating academic credentials, language proficiency, and
skills of FTPs.
^top
|
