The major component of the AIBC’s transition to the Professional Governance Act is the development of new bylaws which meet the requirements of the PGA. The first suite of draft bylaws addresses registration and licensing and are now ready for registrant review. These bylaws have been developed by AIBC staff, with assistance from the Bylaw Review Committee, the AIBC Council PGA Bylaw Working Group and iterative review and feedback with the Office of the Superintendent of Professional Governance (OSPG).
While there are still some areas for further refinement, these bylaws are reasonably well developed, and registrant feedback and questions are welcome. Under the PGA, bylaw authority resides with AIBC Council. This means registrants will not vote on these proposed bylaws. However, there is still an active consultation process, and we encourage architects and other registrants to review the material and submit all feedback to pga@aibc.ca.
Registration and Licensing Bylaws Overview
Overall, the Registration and Licensing Bylaws provide a more modern approach to admissions of individuals and firms as AIBC Registrants, and allow for more flexibility on admissions standards than the ‘hard-wired’ requirements in the Architects Act.
Registrants will notice that much of the AIBC’s current registration and qualifications standards and processes have been ported over from the Architects Act, Bylaws, and Bulletins where appropriate. For example, the ‘registrant categories’ would remain the same: Architect, Intern Architect, Architectural Technologist Temporary Licensee (Architect) and Firm Registrant, along with Honourary Member as a legacy category. Current registration pathways through internship and Canadian and international reciprocity are enshrined in the bylaws, as are concepts such as majority ownership of architectural corporations by architects.
In other areas, new terminology and concepts have had to be established. Under the PGA, a “Credentials Committee” will replace the current Registration Board, with the primary task of reviewing and making decisions on applications for admissions and reinstatements of registrants. The Committee must have public (lay) member participation, and its decisions have a more formal review process, set out in these draft bylaws.
Other changes include:
- Moving admission requirements out of the Architects Act and into Bylaws, with use of schedules for detailed information such as the Internship in Architecture Program requirements;
- The appointment of an architect as a “Firm Representative” for communication with the AIBC;
- More refined regulation of partnerships as business vehicles, including the ability of architectural firms to be established as Limited Liability Partnerships;
- Greater transparency of public information on the AIBC Register, as required under the new legislation; and
- More use of defined terms for clarity and consistency in the bylaws and all AIBC documents as the PGA transition continues.
The full draft bylaws can be found on the AIBC website, including supporting documentation such as definitions developed to date, as well as some of the schedules to these bylaws. Other schedules are in development and will be published once finalized. A number of ‘drafting comments’ arising out of the analysis and drafting of the bylaws have been included as footnotes to elaborate or explain certain aspects of the draft material.
Of note, the final AIBC Bylaw document under the PGA will be a much more comprehensive, single-source document for the regulation of the architectural profession in B.C., alleviating the need to refer to multiple regulatory documents.
Consultation – Submit Comments and Feedback
Architects and other registrants are invited to review and provide feedback to this initial suite of draft bylaws by emailing pga@aibc.ca. The AIBC encourages active participation in the consultation process – in the past, bylaw suites have often been amended based on thoughtful and insightful comments from registrants.
Next Steps
Over the coming weeks and months, more suites of draft bylaws will be shared. Registrants can expect to see an updated draft Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, Institute governance bylaws and professional conduct and discipline process bylaws updated to meet PGA requirements. In addition to sharing all information on the website, consultation sessions will be hosted.