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AGREEMENT ON INTERNAL TRADE
CHAPTER 7 – LABOUR MOBILITY
Implications 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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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)
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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)
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Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA)
Article 708 of the AIT requires that each Party undertakes to mutually recognize theoccupational qualifications required of workers of any other Party and to reconciledifferences 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
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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
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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 aprofession, trade or industry.
A shift away from credential-based model for recognizing workers
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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
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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
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Labour Mobility Coordinators
Updated September 2005
NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR Gary Noftall (709) 729-6133 [email protected] PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND Susan Graham (902) 368-4603 [email protected] NOVA SCOTIA Shannon Kelly (902) 424-4404 [email protected] NEW BRUNSWICK Sara Smallwood (506) 453-8663 [email protected] QUEBEC (co-chair) Jacques Vachon (418) 643-0808 [email protected] ONTARIO Linda Bartolo (416) 325-1969 [email protected] MANITOBA Elaine Philips (204) 945-3572 [email protected] SASKATCHEWAN Mary Didowycz (306) 787-9150
[email protected] ALBERTA Vince Athey (780) 422-5450 [email protected] BRITISH COLUMBIA Cindy Williams (250) 356-2338 [email protected] NWT Wendy MacPherson (867) 873-7146
[email protected] YUKON David Power (867) 667-5455 [email protected] NUNAVUT Ed McKenna (867) 975-5921 [email protected]
CANADA (HRSDC) Brendan Walsh (819) 953-7450 [email protected] (co-chair) Kerry Lynn Lake (819) 934-5608 [email protected]
HRSDC PROPOSAL FOR FUNDING Nicole Roy (819) 994-1481 [email protected]
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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
