The Ministry of Labour and Immigration of Alberta, Minister Jason Copping, through Parliamentary Secretary of Immigration Mohammad Yaseen, holds a round table discussion to discuss concerns and experiences of Filipino immigrants in Alberta regarding their Professional Registration.
The roundtable discussion was held last August 14, 2019 at the Mountbatten Room of the Federal Building in Edmonton.
The discussions focus on the provisions of the Bill 11 – The Fair Registration Practices Act, which will define all Professional Regulatory Bodies in Alberta in order to carry out registration practices that are transparent, objective, impartial and procedurally fair.
The Bill intends to provide professionals with timely decisions, responses and reasons from different Regulatory Bodies with respect to a Professional application for registration within 6 months after receiving the application. For the case of Regulatory bodies that relies on 3rd party agencies to assess the qualifications of an applicant, they shall take reasonable measures to ensure that a third part conducts the assessment in a way that is transparent and objective.
The Bill will establish a Fair Registration Practices Office to assist the Minister in the exercise of the Minister’s powers which includes conducting an audit in compliance with this Act.
Different road blocks that each professional had experienced during their registration process were brought to the roundtable discussion – and it was noted that most of the attendees are still waiting for the decisions from their different Regulatory Bodies.
Bill 11 will not be enforced until it becomes an Act. The present Alberta Government is pushing this Bill to be able to implement it soon so that International Educated Professionals can go back to their Profession and be a part of building the Alberta Economy.