Fair Registration Practices Office
Message from the Fair Registration Practices Office
Manitoba was one of the first provinces in Canada to introduce fairness legislation when it enacted the Fair Registration Practices in Regulated Professions Act (act) and established the Office of the Manitoba Fairness Commissioner (OMFC) in 2009. In December 2021 and May 2023, the Manitoba government made amendments to strengthen the act and the OMFC transitioned to the Fair Registration Practices Office (FRPO).
2021 amendments:
- proactively ensure professions under the act comply with domestic trade agreements
- require regulators to ensure assessment criteria used for registration are necessary to the practice of the profession
- obligate regulators to notify the FRPO of changes to their assessment and registration practices prior to implementation
- allow for development of a regulation to establish timeliness standards for registration of qualified internationally educated applicants
- authorize the Minister to issue compliance orders to regulated professions that have shown serious, repeated unwillingness to follow recommendations of the Minister
2023 amendments:
- add a definition of “domestic labour mobility applicant” as those applicants currently registered in another Canadian province or territory
- establish registration decision timelines for mobility applicants
- extend the minister’s order making powers to cover contraventions to the labour mobility duty in the act
- introduce a provision to establish regulations regarding language proficiency policies
The FRPO continues to work collaboratively with 31 self-regulated professions under the act to help ensure applicants are treated and assessed in a way that is transparent, objective, impartial and fair.
By working together and making changes through an open and consultative approach, more qualified applicants are recognized and working to their fullest potential, with significant economic benefits to the province.
