October 2023 Newsletter
Public Health Measures | Amalgmation & New Legislation | Masking requirements The Minister of Health and Provincial Health Officer have implemented new health measures for the respiratory illness season. Medical masks are now required in public healthcare settings. Masking is also recommended in private facilities (i.e., where most opticians work), but is currently not mandated. COBC will provide updates on these measures as we receive them. | | Amalgamation, changing legislation, and our commitment to Indigenous cultural safety The landscape of regulation in BC is rapidly changing. With the amalgamation of 11 health regulatory colleges scheduled for June of 2024, and the implementation of the Health Professions and Occupations Act to follow, we're doing the work ahead of time to ensure that our commitment to Indigenous cultural safety, cultural humility, and anti-racism is upheld throughout this period of transition, and well beyond. The Joint Apology and Commitment to Action 2021–2023 Report—a collaborative effort of nine colleges, including COBC—outlines the many opportunities presented by the upcoming amalgamation, including: | | - Embedding Indigenous methods, protocols, and worldviews into the operations and systems of the newly amalgamated entities at the time of amalgamation; and
- Working collaboratively to jointly create and share registrant learning resources related to cultural safety, cultural humility, and anti-racism.
The Health Professions and Occupations Act, which received Royal Assent in November 2022, will replace the Health Professions Act as the governing legislation for health profession regulatory colleges in BC. While an in-force date for the new legislation has not yet been announced, colleges are preparing to work under the Act, which requires regulated health professionals to: - Protect the public from harm and discrimination,
- Take and promote anti-discrimination measures, and
- Support and promote awareness of awareness of reconciliation, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the need to address racism and anti-racism issues that are specific to Indigenous peoples.
The Joint Apology and Commitment to Action 2021–2023 Report states: “We are committed to working together to ensure regulatory colleges and registrants are held to these obligations.” | CCP cycle ending soon If you are currently in the third and final year of your continuing education cycle, you must fulfill all the requirements of your Continuing Competency Program (CCP) no later than December 31, 2023. The program is self-managed, so you are responsible for ensuring that all the steps have been completed in the online system. | | This includes: taking the assessment(s), creating goals for yourself, finding and completing activities to achieve those goals, and reflecting on how it went. Please log in to your profile on the COBC website to log your progress. If you have questions about CCP, you can visit our website to access guides and tools or contact Christopher Dodge, our Manager of Quality Assurance. | Unsure when your cycle ends? Log in to your COBC account and navigate to the HOME tab to see your cycle end date, along with other important dates related to your registration. (If you can't see any dates in your HOME tab, it may be that you need to complete your log-in security questions!) | | What's going on at COBC Here's what we have on the go for the month of October: - BCHR Symposium
Staff will attend the BC Health Regulators' fall learning event later this month, for talks on Cultural Safety and Humility, change management, and the implementation of the Health Professions and Occupations Act. | | - Safe Spaces
Members of the COBC Board and staff continue to participate in the Safe Spaces project, led by the BC College of Nurses and Midwives and consulting firm Qoqoq, which is developing a set of standards for addressing Indigenous-specific racism, eliminating white supremacy, and upholding cultural safety in Board and committee work.
- NACOR National Meetings
This month, the National Alliance of Canadian Optician Regulators (NACOR) hosts its annual national meetings. Opticianry regulators from across the country will come together to discuss the state of the industry in Canada, common goals and challenges across provinces, and plans for the year ahead. COBC staff will be in attendance. | Board appreciation:
Piotr Majkowski The COBC team is grateful to Piotr Majkowski for his dedicated and thoughtful work as a public representative on the COBC Board. Since joining in 2018, Piotr has served as Chair of the Governance Working Group, Chair of the Inquiry Committee, and a reliable voice of reason at the Board table. As a Registered Nurse, he has encouraged the Board to approach its decisions with empathy, and with diversity and accessibility in mind. We wish Piotr all the best as he departs the Board. | | We are pleased to welcome John Meneghello as our new public representative. His first official meeting will be the Board's Q4 meeting, which coincides with the COBC Annual General Meeting, on Thursday, November 23. | Did you know? If you're retiring, leaving the profession, or moving to another province, it's better to notify COBC than to simply let your licence lapse. If we know what your plans are, we can: - Update the status of your licence to accurately reflect the change. ("Voluntary withdrawal" sounds a lot better than "Suspended for non-payment of fees"!)
- Assist with your transition—whether that includes providing documentation to another provincial regulator or simply instructing you on how to correctly dispose of your certificates.
- Issue a partial refund for licensing fees (in limited circumstances).
- Remove you from our reminder lists so you'll stop receiving emails about things that are no longer applicable to you.
We're always happy to discuss your options. Send us an email at reception@cobc.ca or call 604-742-6472! | | College of Opticians of BC operates on the traditional, ancestral and unceded Coast Salish territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations. | Unsubscribing from this email will revoke your consent to receive email correspondence from us as outlined in Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) . We will no longer be able to send you important reminders pertaining to your license, which may affect your registration with the College of Opticians of BC. Please contact us if you have any questions. | | | | |
