CHAPTER 2 REGULATION OF THE PROFESSIONS Overview Most professions in Canada are self-regulated. Self-regulation refers to a profession’s statutory authority to gov- ern itself. The provinces have jurisdiction to regulate the professions, and each province has its own legislation. governing professions. Professional self-regulation covers two main elements: the right to title and the scope of practice. Right to title means that the professional regulatory authority can regulate the exclusive right for its members to use a par- ticular title. Scope of practice means that the regulatory authority also has the right to regulate the exclusive right of its members to practice in a particular area or field. For example, the engineering profession has the exclusive right to the title “Professional Engineer” or“P.Eng,” and the exclusive right to practice “professional engineering”! ‘The professions of architecture, engineering, and, in all provinces and territories except Prince Edward Island and Yukon, geoscience, all have right to title and right to an exclusive scope of practice. The scope of practice is de- fined in each province's legislation. Other professions, such as interior design, only have right to title legislation. The legislation in each province creates a regulatory body to govern each profession. These regulatory bod- ies typically have elected officials and staff, with the elected officials consisting mainly of members of the pro- fession. The principal functions of the regulatory bodies are to register members, regulate the practice of its members, discipline members, and enforce the legislation against nonmembers who are practicing illegally. The provincial engineering regulatory bodies have also formed a national organization known as the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers (CCPE). Similarly, the provincial geoscience regulatory bodies, ' The terms engineer, engineering, professional engineer, PEng., consulting engineer, ingenieur, ing. ingenieur conseil, genie and ingenerie ae oficial marks held by the Canadian Council of Profesional Engincers on behalf o its constituent members,Se \which are part of the engineering regulatory bodies in some provinces, have formed a national organ- ization known as the Canadian Council of Professional Geoscientists (CCPG). The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) plays a similar role to the CCPE and CCPG, but it registers individual members of provincial associations on a voluntary basis. The principal goals of these national organizations are to coordinate and foster mutual recognition among the regulatory bodies and to encourage commonality of operations. In addition to provincial regulatory bodies and the'r respective national organizations, engi- neers, architects, and geoscientists are members of a wide variety of technical associations. These include broader groups such as the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering (CSCE), Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineering (CSME), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the Association of Consulting Engineers of Canada (ACEC). They also include techni- cal groups, such as Construction Specifications Canada (CSC), the Canadian Portland Cement Association (CPCA), and the Canadian Geotechnical Society (CGS). Membership in technical societies is voluntary but provides valuable technical training and transfer of knowledge. Many of the technical societies have their own codes of ethics, and some have copyright over specific titles. 21 Right to Title Protection of the right to title of the various professions is one of the main obligations of the provincial regulatory bodies. For engincers, this means that graduates of an engineering program are not entitled to call themselves engineers or professional engineers without first obtaining the right to do so through registration. Obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Engineering is one of the elements of registration, but it does not of itself permit graduates to call themselves engineers. The same applies to architects and geoscientists. Moreover, only registered members of a profession can use the profession's title. Everyone else is prohibited from doing so by law. For each of the three professions, a period of apprenticeship is required, during which members of the profession train university graduates, During this period, ‘graduates can use interim titles such as “engineer-in-training” (EIT) or “member-in-training” (MIT). Misrepresenting oneself by using the title “architect” without appropriate registration can lead to enforcement proceedings, together with potential civil proceedings. The right to title is pro- tected by the regulatory bodi through discipline and enforcement proceedings. 2.2 Scope of Practice The architecture, engineering, and geoscience professions generally have exclusive scopes of prac- tice. Scope of practice means that in Canada, no one can practice within the exclusive scope of practice of these professions without being licensed. There are few exceptions to this rule because legislators have deemed the ability of the professions to maintain exclusivity to be very important, Other countries generally have systems of voluntary registration with associations, such as the United Kingdom's Institute of Civil Engineering; however, professionals often cannot find employ- ment or gain approval for drawings from public authorities without such membership. In the United States, registration is mandatory for consulting engineers only. Each of the provinces defines exclusive scope of practice through a definition of the practice of the specific profession. These definitions can be either generic or specific. A generic definition broadly states the types of tasks that constitute the exclusive scope of practice. A specific definition identifies in detail the individual tasks that make up the exclusive scope of practice. For example, the CCPE definition of professional engineering is a generic definition:10 | CHAPTER 2 The practice of professional engineering means any act of planning, designing, composing, evaluating, advising, reporting, directing or supervising, or managing any of the foregoing, that requires the application of engineering principles, and that concerns the safeguarding of life, health, property, economic interests, the public welfare or the environment A similar definition of the profession of geoscience has been adopted by the CCPG: The “practice of professional geoscience” means the performing of any activity that requires application of the principles of the geological sciences, and that concerns the safeguarding of public welfare, life, health, property, or economic interests, including, but not limited to: a. _ investigations, interpretations, evaluations, consultations or management aimed at discovery or development of metallic or non-metallic minerals, rocks, nuclear or fossil fuels, precious stones and water resources, b. investigations, interpretations, evaluations, consultations or management relating to geoscien- tific properties, conditions or processes that may affect the well-being of the general public, including those pertaining to preservation of the natural environment.” In each of these two cases, the definition is somewhat circular in that the key phrase is the “application of engineering [or geoscience] principles.” While this wording creates some ambiguity for the courts to resolve, it reflects the difficulty of defining any profession. The national RAIC has created a definition of the profession of architecture, However, indi- vidual provincial legislatures and regulatory bodies can choose either to adopt the national defini tion or to create their own. The only definitions that are binding on the public and the professions are those that have been included in the enabling legislation or regulations in each province. Ontario's Architects Act provides an example of a generic, statutory definition of the practice of architecture: “practice of architecture” means, a) the preparation or pro\ of a building, ion of a design to govern the construction, enlargement or alteration b) evaluating, advising on or reporting on the construction, enlargement or alteration of a build- ing, or ©) general review of the construction, enlargement or alteration of a buildings* Definitions also include exceptions and exclusions. The CCPE definition of professional engi- neering also has the following exclusion, which is intended to “retain the distinction between the practice of engineering and the practice of natural science”: Nothing in this Act shall prevent an individual who either holds a recognized honours or higher degree in one or more of the physical, chemical, life, computer, or mathematical sciences, or who possess an equivalent combination of education, training and experience, or is acting under the direct supervision and control of the individual described in the preceding paragraph from practising natural science which, for the purposes of this Act, means any act * Canadian Council of Professional Engineers, Guideline om the Definition ofthe Practice of Profesional Engineering (2004), * httpylwww.ccpg-ca/guidelines/definition_practice geoscience html * Omtatio Architecs Act, RS.O. 1990, ¢.A.26.