Current Activity

Work towards new legislation has been going on for years. Thousands of volunteer hours have been invested in this project since 2014. With the introduction of the draft Professional Governance Act, the association has a new opportunity for modernized legislation to guide the regulation of 

Current work falls into three categories:

• Governance
• Committee work
• Administration

Governance

AAA Council are providing oversight of the transition to the new legislation. In addition to monitoring activity, they are also directly engaged in debating policy matters connected to bylaw updates impacting how the association is governed now, and into the future. For example, they are looking at elements such as how many people sit on Council, how often they meet, and how elections are conducted. Much of what we do now will carry through into new legislation, but where there are opportunities to “clean up” some older language and modernize our approach to governance, we will do so. 

Committee work

The Bylaw Task Force and the Practice Review Board are being tasked with work around updated Code of Ethics and the development of a formalized set of Standards of Practice. Both groups will also be asked to weigh in on various elements related to the new bylaws.

Code of Ethics

The Bylaw Task Force has spent the last year drafting a comprehensive document to replace the outdated Code of Ethics that currently resides as a schedule attached to the end of our General Regulation.

Meeting monthly since September of 2023, this team has done a deep dive into the modern practice of architects and licensed interior designers and considered every possible scenario where ethical guidance from the AAA could be helpful. Striving for plain language and simplicity, the task force has begun to separate the simple Code of Ethics from the larger body of work that can be used to inform the drafting of Standards of Practice.

Next steps: The task force will be meeting over the summer of 2024 to refine their work prior to sharing their drafts with the Practice Review Board, the Practice Advisory Committee and ultimately with Council to gather feedback.  Once the volunteer leadership within AAA has provided input, all AAA registrants will have an opportunity to review a polished draft and provide comments.

Standards of Practice

As noted above, the work done towards the Code of Ethics has generated a wealth of content that the Practice Review Board will soon be taking forward to begin work on a set of Standards of Practice. Currently, professionals make reference to multiple sources of information to ascertain what standards are set by the regulator. Practice Bulletins, the CHOP Manual, Practice Advisories, Practice FAQs and other sources offer valuable guidance. A formal Standards of Practice document will not replace these sources, but will serve as an overview guide and valuable reference tool.

Next steps:

The Practice Review Board will soon begin review of the work done on the Code of Ethics and develop their own strategy for developing a comprehensive guide. This work is expected to take many months, and ultimately will go through the same type of intensive internal review within AAA leadership as the Code of Ethics. AAA Registrants will be given an opportunity for review and comment before these standards are submitted to the Ministry of Advanced Education as part of their requirement.

Bylaws

The Ministry of Advanced Education has kindly provided a guide to each of the professional regulatory organizations to support our work in developing updated bylaws. The approach that the government is taking with the introduction of the Professional Governance Act is to push more decision-making authority downwards to the professions themselves. Ultimately, this means that there will be more detailed content within our bylaws related to regulation of the profession than we currently have in place. The Act, General Regulation and Schedules will provide authority and guidance, but our bylaws will be much more fulsome than before.

AAA administration, our legislation consultant and our legal counsel will be doing the bulk of the work on this project.

Volunteer leadership within the Bylaw Task Force, the Practice Review Board, the Registration Committee, and to a lesser extent the Practice Advisory Committee will be invited to weigh into key components of the draft bylaws before they go to Council for overall review. 

Next steps:

Over the summer and into the Fall of 2024 the focus will be on methodically working through the many elements within the bylaws that need to be considered. Activity will include comparing the draft template against the current bylaws, and then identifying where we have ability and wish to make changes. Council will be asked to provide policy guidance on governance and administrative matters. The Registrar and Registration Committee will be asked to weigh in on registration matters. The Complaint Review Committee may be asked to provide their thoughts as well. All of these activities will need to be supported by research and presentation of information to the internal decision-makers. AAA staff and our legislation consultant will collaborate to move these tasks forward as quickly as possible.

AAA registrants will be provided an opportunity to review and comment on the draft bylaws once the detailed work noted above has been completed. Realistically, we anticipate that it could take until early 2025 before the draft is ready to be shared.

Administration

Coordination of the various parties involved in this project is the responsibility of AAA administration, with support from our legislation consultant. Where questions arise for government, AAA Administration will coordinate information requests, and meetings with senior staff within the Ministry. Periodically we are meeting with the other professions who  will come under this legislation to share information and gain insight on how others are progressing on their path towards the Professional Governance Act.  This work is ongoing.

Next steps:

Once all of the policy decisions are made, and we move closer to the introduction of the new Professional Governance Act coming into affect, AAA administration will be working on updating our processes, our forms and our communication tools, including the AAA website, to ensure that we are operating in compliance with the new legislation.