print this page President's Perspective Scott McLean, P.Geo. - APGO President As professional geoscientists, we have a duty to uphold this basic rule as the public has little way of judging our ability or performance. In a sense we, in every way, must gain and hold the public trust. This trust is something that is built over time, but can be lost in an instant. Regulation stems from the public’s desire to see a complex professional discipline of skilled independent practitioners managed. Under such circumstances a government creates legislation that establishes professional licensure as law. In Canada, the regulation of the professions has been assigned a provincial and territorial jurisdiction under the Canadian Constitution. Professional Geoscience is now regulated in all jurisdictions except PEI and the Yukon (The Yukon is expected to pass new legislation for regulation of professional geoscience imminently). In Ontario, our profession is regulated by the Professional Geoscientists Act, 2000 which was proclaimed into law in August 2002. This Act declares what constitutes professional geoscience and pronounces that anyone carrying out such activity in the province requires a licence to do so. The legislation protects the public and investors by establishing APGO as the regulated association of geoscientists with the power to admit only qualified persons, to encourage continuing professional competence, to discipline members for professional misconduct and to prevent unqualified individuals from practising. As such, APGO is a, self-regulated, non-governmental organization that has statutory responsibility to regulate our members through the adoption and enforcement of rules of conduct for fair, ethical and efficient practices. APGO has the power to enforce the Act on its members through disciplinary action and does so on behalf of the public. The self-regulating process of managing our profession is in my mind preferable to the alternative of regulation by government. The structure allows the standards of registration, the evaluation of compliance and the assessment of disciplinary process to be developed and upheld by the group of peers who best understand our profession. It is, however, important to understand that the privilege of self-regulation can be taken away if the public trust is lost through mis-management of the Act. This has happened in other countries like the United Kingdom and Australia where components of self-regulation of medical doctors and lawyers, respectively, were retrenched to government agencies, as the professional associations were deemed to not be upholding the public trust with respect to management of their practitioners. Our Mission Statement at APGO is: “To serve the public by regulating, enhancing and providing leadership in the practice of the profession of geoscience in Ontario.” It is key that the essence of this statement be upheld and reiterated in our daily work. It is the public that has entrusted us with their safety with regard to the geosciences. We clearly have the responsibility to hold this trust at the highest level. Self-Regulation of our profession permits us to set the professional bar, to develop our profession and above all gain the trust of our fellow Ontarians so that their interest regarding geoscience will be safeguarded. Our integrity and reputation as a profession will be measured on our ability to meet this agenda. |
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As President of APGO, I am often asked by members of the public, and by geoscientists, to explain self-regulation of the professions. As I see it, the purpose of regulating any profession is simple; it is to foster professionalism and to safeguard the public from incompetent and unethical actions against it.