April 2007

CCPG Secures Funding for Geoscientist Mobility Project

Members of the CGSB Board

Canadian Council of Professional Geoscientists [CCPG] recently secured support of $140,000 from the Government of Canada (GoC) to assist work to be undertaken over the next 15 months on common entry requirements for registration and on inter-provincial professional mobility.

This project is part of an initiative to assist regulated professions in Canada achieve compliance under Chapter 7 of the Agreement on Internal Trade, and comes out of the work of the Forum of Labour Market Ministers.

Termed the "P.Geo.=P.Geo." project, this initiative will combine the GoC's investment with in-kind support from both CCPG and its constituent members to focus on two important phases of work that have been identified as a priority by all the participants.

Phase 1 will provide support to the Canadian Geoscience Standards Board (CGSB) - a standing committee of CCPG whose mandate includes the CCPG's Recommended Minimum Geoscience Knowledge and Work Experience guideline for registration as a professional geoscientist. In addition to improving the commonly agreed educational requirements for registration as a professional geoscientist, the project includes expanding the new guideline to also address core-competencies requirements for entry to the profession.

Phase 2 will facilitate work by CCPG and its constituent associations aimed at introducing an improved Inter-Association Mobility Agreement (IAMA), or Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA), that will document the process for easier and faster transfer of licensure between provinces and territories and thus improve labour mobility for professionals.

CCPG President Brenda Wright, P.Geol. said "This project will be really beneficial to the self-regulation of our profession, to the constituent associations that register and license our practitioners across Canada, and to the practicing professional geoscientists from coast to coast to coast in Canada, who provide an ever expanding range of highly skilled services to society and our economy."

Work on the P.Geo.=P.Geo. project has already commenced and a special face-to-face meeting of the CGSB took place in March. CCPG will provide periodic updates as the work progresses.

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