Working Collectively
Forest Professional Regulators of Canada (FPRC) is the national advisory group for the coordination of forest professional regulatory associations in Canada and aims to work collaboratively on issues pertaining to regulation of the profession in Canada. As well, it serves as an advocate for issues of national importance or consequences. In recent years, FPRC has addressed matters relating to certification standards, accreditation standards, labour mobility, evaluation of foreign-trained applicants and graduates of non-accredited programs, professionalism and various other national issues.
Mandate
The Forest Professional Regulators of Canada (FPRC)/Organisme de réglementation des professionnels de la forêt du Canada (ORPFC) is an advisory group composed of representatives of forest professional regulatory organizations across Canada. Its role in the regulation of forest professionals in Canada is to:
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Promote consistency where mutually beneficial between Regulators in each province,
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Coordinate and communicate collectively on issues that affect the regulation of forest professionals,
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Enable the movement of forest professional between jurisdictions through compliance with federal and provincial labour mobility agreements,
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Develop and maintain competency-based academic and work experience certification standards for approval by each Regulator, and
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Define and maintain accreditation standards to assess and accredit as appropriate, Canadian post-secondary forestry programs.
FPRC/ORPFC operates within the regulatory framework of the provincial forestry regulators.
FPRC/ORPFC operates in a policy governance model. The Board, taking direction from the policies and strategic plans for their individual Associations, defines policy regarding the ownership, organizational purpose and staff behaviour, the Board's responsibility, authority, conduct, delegation and monitoring.
Policy and procedures are defined for committees and programs. Staff and committees operationalize policy and the respective chairs report back to the Board on a quarterly basis. The Board, as a single entity, assumes a governance position that is the link between ownership and operations.
Projects
Forest Professional Regulators of Canada (FPRC) is the national advisory group for the coordination of forest professional regulatory associations in Canada and aims to work collaboratively on issues of national importance or consequences. It has overseen discussion on numerous matters of common concerns over its more than three decades of operation and, during the past few years, has undertaken a number of major projects on behalf of its member organizations. Examples include:
Certification Standards
FPRC has provided the platform for discussions and development of a common set of Certification Standards for forest professional applicants that aim to enter the profession in Canada but they have not attended an accredited post-secondary program or they are internationally trained individuals. FPRC member organizations, exclusive of the Ordre des ingénieurs forestiers du Québec (OIFQ), have formally approved, adopted and use the standards for entrance into professional practice in each of their provincial jurisdictions.
Accreditation Standards
In 1989 FPRC established the Canadian Forestry Accreditation Board (CFAB) as committee, to provide the evaluation of university level forestry degree programs. As with the Certification Standards, the Accreditation Standards employed by the CFAB have been adopted for use by the FPRC member organizations.
The Accreditation Standards used by the CFAB are fully harmonized with the FPRC Certification Standards. FPRC advises the Canadian Forestry Accreditation Board on the nature and content of education programs required for the practice of professional forestry in Canada.
Evaluation of Internationally-Trained and Non-Accredited Applicants
The guidelines for the evaluation of credentials of internationally trained individuals and graduates of non-accredited programs has been developed in collaboration with our stakeholders. The Credential Assessment Process (CAP) is a gap analysis of applicants comparing their education and work experience against the certifications standards. This information is provided to the regulator in the jurisdiction in which the applicant aims to be registered with.
Labour Mobility
FPRC is the advisory group for addressing issues of reciprocity and movement of professional foresters between regulatory jurisdictions. In this capacity, FPRC and its individual member organizations serve as the primary points of contact with government agencies for the implementation of the Agreement on Internal Trade with respect to professional forestry. In addition, FPRC developed the Mutual Recognition Agreement which sets out conditions under which a Registered Professional Forester can move from one province to another with respect to professional practice.