General By-law

Note: This public consultation is now closed.

Changes to the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 (RHPA) made in May 2017 have necessitated changes to our College’s General By-law. While our public register is in compliance with the RHPA as mandated by Bill 87 our General by-law needs to be amended to reflect the current legislation. You can click here for more information on the changes that Bill 87 brought to our public register.

In addition to the necessary changes above, Council is proposing some additional changes and edits that are not related to Bill 87, as these further changes are also appropriate at this time.

All of the proposed changes amend Article 14 of the College’s General By-law, entitled “The Register.” The bulk of the changes are proposed in order to:

Bring the register into compliance with section 23 of the RHPA
Provide additional personal information, such as member’s common names, and information about other regulatory bodies members belong to
Remove redundancies that exist in the by-law
Change language to gender-neutral terms
Include more information about decisions made by College committees
Include more information on a member’s status within other regulatory bodies in any jurisdiction
Publish on the register any charges or findings of guilt against a member which the Registrar deems relevant to the member’s suitability to practise

You can click here to read detailed information on all of the proposed changes to the College’s General by-law.

The College of Midwives of Ontario is committed to transparency, and to regulating in the public interest. We believe strongly that all of the proposed changes will benefit families seeking midwifery care by giving them more information when choosing a provider, and a greater understanding of the ways in which midwifery is regulated. Midwives will also benefit from the public’s trust that the College is ensuring excellence in midwifery.

Read more about the ways that the College of Midwives of Ontario is committed to transparency

Transparency Initiative

In 2012, the colleges of dental surgeons, optometrists, pharmacists, physicians, nurses and physio-therapists formed a new collaborative group: the Advisory Group for Regulatory Excellence (AGRE) with the purpose of making recommendations for changes to the Ontario health professions regulatory framework to enhance public protection.

In November 2014, the College of Midwives of Ontario adopted the following transparency principles developed by the AGRE to serve as the foundation for any future transparency work.

Principle 1: The mandate of regulators is public protection and safety. The public needs access to appropriate information in order to trust that this system of self-regulation works effectively.

Principle 2: Providing more information to the public has benefits, including improved client choice and increased accountability for regulators.

Principle 3: Any information provided should enhance the public’s ability to make decisions or hold the regulator accountable. This information needs to be relevant, credible and accurate.

Principle 4: For information to be helpful to the public, it must: (a) be timely, easy to find and understand; (b) include context and explanation.

Principle 5: Certain regulatory processes intended to improve competence may lead to better outcomes for the public if they happen confidentially.

Principle 6: Transparency discussions should balance the principles of public protection and accountability, with fairness and privacy.

Principle 7: The greater the potential risk to the public, the more important transparency becomes.

Principle 8: Information available from Colleges about members and processes should be similar.

Transparency Letter

In October 2014, transparency was brought to a new level when the former Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, Dr. Eric Hoskins, sent a letter to all health regulatory Colleges outlining his commitment to enhanced regulatory transparency and requiring all health regulatory colleges to respond with their plans to enhance transparency in a consistent manner. He requested that the Colleges work collaboratively with the Ministry to implement transparency measures to maintain the public’s trust in Ontario’s health care system. A multiphase initiative began in 2015, resulting in full implementation of AGRE’s recommendations by all health regulatory colleges. In March 2016, the College’s Council approved revised bylaws that made the following information public:

Non-college member information: Findings of guilt, charges, bail conditions, registration history with other regulators, past practice locations
College member information: specified continuing education or remediation programs (SCERP) with a monitoring component, ordered by the ICRC; written cautions, ordered by the ICRC; oral cautions, ordered by the ICRC; resignations while under investigation; alternate practice arrangements, authorized by the College, including names of second birth attendants.

Bill 87

On May 30, 2017, Bill 87, the Protecting Patients Act, 2017 was given royal assent by the Ontario legislature. This bill amended the RHPA and expanded the list of information that must be made available about practitioners on public registers. As a result of the College’s transparency initiative in 2015-2016, the College’s by-law already meets many of the new register requirements.

Our consultation is open until June 3rd, and all members of the public, stakeholders, and midwives are invited to share their thoughts on the changes to Article 14 of the College’s General By-Law here.