Encouraging the recognition of qualifications across Canada benefits workers and employers alike. Workers have a wider range of opportunities and employers have a broader selection of candidates.
Chapter 7 of the AIT targets three main barriers that prevent or limit the interprovincial movement of workers:
This is particularly significant to the approximately 20 percent of workers in Canada who work in regulated occupations or trades. It means qualifications of workers from one part of the country are to be recognized and accommodated in other parts of Canada, and differences in occupational standards are to be reconciled as much as possible. The goal is to see people licensed and registered based primarily on their competency to do the job, not on where they come from.
There are approximately 60 regulated professions in Canada, with 51 of them regulated in two or more jurisdictions. People working in regulated occupations include doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers and architects, among others.
It is not just "professional" occupations that are subject to the AIT. There are approximately 50 trades where certification is compulsory in at least one jurisdiction. Examples of trades that require certification/licensing in most jurisdictions include electricians, plumbers and automobile mechanics.
SUFA compliments and provides a renewed focus for the mobility efforts of the Government of Canada and all provinces and territories through the Forum of Labour Market Ministers (FLMM).
HRP and its partners work to reconcile national occupational standards to allow workers access to jobs across Canada. This is achieved through the development of cross-border and cross-sectoral agreements called Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) - instruments used to mutually recognize each others qualifications.
HRP provides financial assistance for activities related to reconciling occupational standards. Through HRP, funding is made available to consortia, representing different occupations, to meet and to develop an MRA allowing workers to work anywhere across Canada. For example, the registered nurses in Canada agreed on an MRA that increases labour mobility within their profession. For further information please see Guidelines for meeting the obligations of the Labour Mobility Chapter [PDF].
For government-regulated trades, HRP supports labour mobility through the Red Seal Program. The Program encourages standardization of provincial and territorial apprenticeship training and certification programs. Certified workers in the forty-five designated Red Seal trades can have their qualifications recognized across the country by writing and passing an interprovincial examination, which is developed based on a National Occupational Analysis (NOA). The "Red Seal" allows qualified trades persons to practice the trade in any province or territory in Canada where the trade is designated without having to write further examinations. These “Red Seal” exams are administered through the apprenticeship systems of each province and territory.
All jurisdictions recognize these examinations which if passed, result in a Red Seal being affixed to the provincial or territorial Certificate of Qualification providing labour mobility to any other jurisdiction that also has the trade designated. Also, most provinces have made recent commitments to extend some form of recognition for tradespersons who are not covered by the Red Seal Program.
The Red Seal allows qualified tradespeople to practise their trade in any province or territory without having to write additional examinations, thus improving labour mobility in Canada and saving time and resources by eliminating the need for multiple examinations.