Fair Registration Practices Office
Message from the Fair Registration Practices Office
The Fair Registration Practices Office (FRPO) administers The Fair Registration Practices in Regulated Professions Act and ensures the registration practices of self-regulated professions in Manitoba are fair and transparent. The 31 self-regulated professions listed under the Act must ensure its members meet a high standard of professional practice. In doing so, they must also ensure that registration of professionals is fair, clear and well-defined. The FRPO provides oversight so all applicants receive fair consideration and registration decisions are transparent, objective, impartial and fair.
FRPO works collaboratively with Manitoba professions under the Act to ensure their registration practices comply with legislation. 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.
The Office of the Manitoba Fairness Commissioner (OMFC) was established in 2009 through passing of The Fair Registration Practices in Regulated Professions Act. Manitoba was one of the first jurisdictions in Canada to implement fairness legislation. Through legislative amendments in 2021, the OMFC transitioned to the Fair Registration Practices Office. Amendments also:
- proactively ensure professions under the Act comply with domestic trade agreements;
- formally entrench the requirement for regulators to ensure assessment criteria used for registration are necessary to the practice of the profession;
- obligate regulatory bodies to notify the FRPO of changes to their assessment and registration practices prior to implementation;
- provide for development of a regulation to establish timeliness standards for registration of qualified internationally educated applicants; and
- authorize the Minister to issue compliance orders to regulated professions that have shown serious, repeated unwillingness to follow recommendations of the Minister.
