The Case for Professional Chemist as a Regulated Occupation in BC

All of us are familiar with professionals whom we engage daily to provide us with services: physicians, lawyers, engineers and architects.  All of these are regulated occupations whose members are licensed and registered in professional associations. Through that registration the public has confidence that their credentials, including education and experience, will ensure the highest competency, expertise and ethical standards.  Each of these professions has had a statute or enactment of the British Columbia legislature passed to set the anticipated standards and instill that public confidence.  Some of these enactments are recent while others date back many years.

There is one outstanding exception in British Columbia. Chemists who are registered members of the Association of the Chemical Profession of British Columbia have an exclusive right to the title Professional Chemist, which is granted by government, but as yet do not have a statute that establishes the standards of this vital profession in legislation.

In this section we lay out the case for fully regulated occupation status for Professional Chemists in the province by first exploring the importance of the work of chemists in our economy and in our everyday lives.

Chemistry touches all aspects of the economy, human health and environmental protection.

In assessing the case for the vital role of the chemist, it is chemists’ work out of the public view which is of key importance to our economy and well-being. For example every aspect of the LNG process, from the hydraulic fracturing, the water management and reclamation in the production cycle, to the physical processes of liquefaction involves chemistry.  Our pulp and paper and metals extraction and refining industries are built upon chemical processes. Our emerging high-value materials and biomedical innovations are based in chemistry. In many respects chemistry is the assumed and silent science that drives our economy.  Just as vital are the chemical processes that determine the movement and the degradation of contaminants in soil, in groundwater, and in the atmosphere. Chemistry provides our understanding of those dynamics and ultimately guides the science-based decision making that affords us our environmental protection.

Regulated professions are an essential component of public confidence.

While the role of chemistry and of the Professional Chemist described above may be understood, public trust requires documentation of credentials and assurance that competencies are maintained. Validation of the professional credentials of those offering services to the public is best achieved through a properly constituted and recognized professional association. For chemical professionals in British Columbia, the ACPBC is currently providing all aspects of that mandate, and is ready for that role to be recognized in statute.

A professional chemistry association:

• Ensures that chemical services are being offered by competent individuals with appropriate skills and knowledge in the chemical sciences. When all professions have parity of recognition and scope of practice the chance of incompetent performance is reduced. In regulating the Professional Chemist, the ACPBC establishes and monitors standards for its members and publishes a roster of members in good standing.
• Ensures that accountability and discipline procedures provide protection of the public. These are framed within a mandatory code of ethics that every professional member must sign before registration by the ACPBC. Concerns of the public are addressed through a complaints process and a disciplinary process that is already as thorough as those in the legislation of other professions. These essential elements of a regulatory authority, currently in place for the ACPBC, are described in more detail “Capacity of ACPBC to Act as a Regulatory Authority”.
• Coordinates the process for labour mobility of chemists in Canada with other provincial chemistry associations. Transferability of professional credentials under the New West Partnership Trade Agreement and Chapter 7 of the Agreement on Internal Trade is undertaken by and administered by professional associations identified by provinces as Regulatory Authorities or as recognized members of the national organization the Federation of Canada’s Professional Chemists/ Federation des chimistes professionels du Canada (FCPC). The FCPC is a member of the Canadian Network of National Associations of Regulators (CNNAR).On a national level, professional chemistry associations are organized to regulate and maintain the occupation of Professional Chemist and Chimiste in Quebec. Such a national network, more fully described in “Chemistry as a Regulated Profession in Canada”, provides additional confidence that the profession will protect the public interest when established in an enactment in BC.

Post-secondary education in BC produces highly qualified chemistry professionals.

To maintain the public trust in services provided by professionals, regulated occupations are charged to maintain membership criteria and ongoing standards of professional competency of members.  In British Columbia we have the finest university chemistry programs in Canada and graduates of these programs are highly qualified for their careers as Professional Chemists.  Further, the Bachelor of Science degrees in Chemistry from British Columbia’s universities are accredited under the Canadian Society for Chemistry to a standard highly respected internationally. The system of standards for initial qualification in chemistry is the equal of, if not more rigorous than, the other scientific disciplines that are currently recognized in provincial legislation.