The role of regulatory bodies under the Professional Governance Act (PGA) is set out in Section 22 [General duty and responsibilities of regulatory bodies] as follows:

  • It is the general duty of a regulatory body at all times to serve and protect the public interest with respect to the exercise of a profession, professional governance and the conduct of registrants;
  • A regulatory body has the following responsibilities:
    • to superintend the regulated practice;
    • to preserve and protect reserved titles or reserved practices, as applicable, in the public interest;
    • to govern the registrants of the regulatory body according to the PGA, the regulations and the bylaws;
    • to establish the conditions or requirements for registration with the regulatory body;
    • to establish, monitor and enforce standards of practice to enhance the quality of practice so that registrants avoid:
      1. professional misconduct,
      2. conduct unbecoming a registrant, and
      3. incompetent performance of duties;
    • to establish and maintain a continuing competency program to promote high practice standards amongst registrants;
    • to establish, monitor and enforce standards of professional ethics amongst registrants;
    • to establish and employ registration, investigation and discipline procedures that are transparent, objective, impartial and fair;
    • to administer the affairs of the regulatory body and exercise its powers and perform its duties under the PGA or other enactments;
    • in the course of exercising the powers and performing the duties of the regulatory body under the PGA or other enactments, to promote and enhance the following:
      1. collaborative relations with other regulatory bodies, post-secondary education institutions and the government;
      2. interprofessional collaborative practice between its registrants and persons practising another profession;
      3. the ability of its registrants to respond and adapt to changes in practice environments, advances in technology and other emerging issues.