The College of Applied Biologists protects the public interest by ensuring that its registrants meet a specific standard of education, training and experience before being admitted to the College; remain competent throughout their career; and adhere to a high standard of ethical and professional conduct.
Questions about the College’s CPD of Practice can be directed to the Manager of Practice at sue.owen@cab-bc.org.
Professional Practice Guidelines and Materials
- Ethical and Professional Matters – The following materials are intended to support registrants with ethical and professional matters:
- Technical Matters — The following materials are intended to support registrants with technical matters:
- College Policies Policies Related to Professional Practice
Continuing Professional Development
Program Overview
The professional practice of applied biology is constantly changing and evolving. Ongoing education and professional development are therefore necessary for professional competence and to uphold registrants’ duty to the public and environment. Section 57(1)(e) of the Professional Governance Act requires the College to maintain a containing education program for its registrants, and Division 2, Section 7-2(1) of the College Bylaws requires the participation by the registrants of the College in the College’s Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Program. The CPD Program is a tool that intends to support a registrant’s professional growth and maintain their level of competence for the tenure of their professional careers.
Introduction to CPD as a regulated professional
The College has developed a webinar below which covers the basics of the CPD program, including some common activities that can be claimed towards the CPD requirement. The webinar also provides a demonstration about how to record activities in the CPD tracking module in the registrant portal. At the end of the webinar, you will learn how to claim it as a CPD activity! There is also a frequently asked questions document.
Requirements
The CPD Program is described in Division 2 of the College Bylaws and in Policy 7-100. Requirements for registrants are further set out in the Continuing Professional Development Standard. Participation in the CPD Program is mandatory for all practicing and in-training registrants, including those registered as on leave.
CPD Program basics:
- Minimum points/hours: registrants must complete 100 CPD points/hours of eligible activities over 3 consecutive years (there is reduced requirement for those registered as on leave).
- Timeframe: one CPD year runs from January 1st to December 31st of the same year.
- Annual reporting: registrants must submit an annual record of CPD activities undertaken by December 31st of each year through their profile in the College’s Registrant Portal.
- CPD categories: eligible activities are defined by categories in the Continuing Professional Development Standard.
- Claimable points: maximum annual claimable points per activity and category are set out in the Continuing Professional Development Standard.
- Indigenous Peoples: registrants must complete 5 CPD points/hours of learning related to Indigenous Peoples over 3 consecutive years.
- Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: registrants must complete 5 CPD points/hours of learning about Equity, Diversity and Inclusion over 3 consecutive years.
Continuing Professional Development Activities
Below are some suggested resources that may be considered for CPD points/hours. Registrants are required to refer to the CPD Standard for information on categories, criteria and associated claimable points. It is a registrant’s responsibility to ensure that a given activity aligns with the CPD Standard prior to undertaking the activity and subsequently claiming points/hours.
Webinars
- US Fish & Wildlife Service National Conservation Service Training Center
- Canada’s Adaptation Platform webinars (PDF handouts and video-recordings — English)
- Climate Change Webinar video-recordings and PDFs
- ECO Canada webinars
- Harvard Business Review webinars
- Ontario Centre for Climate Impacts
- Canadian Wildlife Federation webinars
- Science (magazine) webinars
- Nature Conservancy of Canada webinars
- Evaluating Stormwater to Identify & Quantify Causal Toxins from Tire Degradants
- 2022 updates to the Migratory Birds Regulations – Canadian Wildlife Service/Environment and Climate Change Canada
Online Courses
Virtual Conferences and Events
- Wildlife Disease Association Conference — TBD
- International Association for Society and Natural Resources (IASNR) 2021 Conference — TBD
- Conferences and Meetings on Biology
- Conferences and Meetings on Botany
- Conferences and Meetings on Zoology
- Mountain Research Initiative
- Sustainable Ocean Management & Conservation Conferences and Events
Publication Resources
Legal Resources: Legislation, regulation and court rulings
- CANLII (a searchable website for legislation, regulation and legal cases that have resulted on in Canada)
Signing & Certifying Documents (Webinars)
- Nov. 21st — Key Ingredients to Electronic Protection of your Professional Records
- Dec. 7th — Hands-on Training on the CAB Digital Signature Software Tool
- Jan. 23rd — Key Ingredients to Electronic Protection of your Professional Records
- Feb. 20th — Hands-on Training on the CAB Digital Signature Software Tool
Audit and Practice Review Programs
Audit Program
The Audit and Practice Review Programs are non-disciplinary in nature; they are professional development and education tools. The intent is to protect the public interest and provide registrants opportunities to develop and learn as professionals, make improvements to their practice and resolve identified deficiencies, as required.
Participation in audits and practice reviews is mandatory for registrants under the Professional Governance Act and College Bylaws.
The Audit Program is a professional development tool designed to assess registrants’ compliance with legal requirements and identify actions that can be taken to resolve and mitigate any deficiencies identified their practice. The Audit Program aids the College in fulfilling its mandate to protect the public interest by ensuring registrants maintain professional competencies, competence and compliance with professional standards and requirements. Eligible registrants are randomly selected for audit each year. The audit process includes review of recent continuing professional development (CPD) activities and responses to standard questions about professional practice. Selected registrants are assigned to either a Level I (shorter) or Level II (longer) audit.
Practice Review Program
The Practice Review Program is a corrective quality assurance process designed to assess and identify actions that registrants must take to rectify identified deficiencies in their practice as applied biology professionals. A practice review is initiated by referral from an audit, if there is no straightforward or obvious remedial action to address a deficiency that was identified during an audit, or referral of a complaint by the Registrar. The scope of a practice review is based on the identified deficiency in the registrant’s practice.
Relevant Legislation, College Bylaws and Policies
- Professional Governance Act, division 3, section 63
- College bylaws, Part 8, division 2
- Policy 8-200
- Policy 8-300
- Policy 8-400
Reserved Title and Reserved Practice
The College has posted a full library of illustrative documents regarding reserved practice for applied biology. This library covers topics such as the definitions of regulated and reserved practices, the pathways to registration with the College, and areas of intersection between applied biology and other professions in the natural resource sector.
View illustrative documents
Reserved Title
The Professional Governance Act grants reserved title to applied biology professionals. Reserved title means that only a registrant of the College of Applied Biologists is legally allowed to use the following titles in British Columbia (BC):
- Registered Professional Biologist (RPBio) or Professional Biologist
- Registered Biology Technologist (RBTech)
- Applied Biology Technician (ABT)
- Biologist in Training (BIT)
- Registered Biology Technologist in Training (Trainee RBTech)
- Applied Biology Technician in Training (Trainee ABT)
- Applied Biology-Limited Licensee (AB-LL)
Read more about the College’s categories of registration and registrant scopes of practice here.
Regulated Practice
The definition of the regulated practice of applied biology under the Professional Governance Act is detailed in the Applied Biologists Regulation. The definition has not changed significantly from that under the College of Applied Biology Act and is summarized below.
“The practice of applied biology means providing advice or services based on the five biological sciences of botany, zoology, microbiology, ecology and biochemistry, and relates to aquatic or terrestrial ecosystems or the living organisms, habitats or processes within or that supports that advice or services. The practice of applied biology does not include the provision of advice or services within the reserved practice of a registrant of another regulatory body (e.g. Engineers and Geoscientists of BC, Association of BC Forest Professionals).”
Reserved Practice
Implementation of reserved practice is the culmination of over three years of policy work between the College, its regulatory partners, the Office of the Superintendent of Professional Governance and the government of BC. Reserved practice also represents one of the original goals of the College itself, to recognize and value the importance of applied biology professionals in the natural resource sector.
Reserved practice was also foundational to the development of the Professional Governance Act:
The PGA is intended to “strengthen and focus the responsibilities of professional regulatory associations” and to “extend[s] practice rights to these professional regulatory associations that currently have the exclusive right to their professional titles but not exclusive right to practice their profession”.
– Hansard – Minister G. Heyman, October 30, 2018
Reserved practice contributes to effective protection of the public interest and the ultimate goal of the PGA, which is work in the natural resource and built environments done by qualified, competent and accountable professionals.
The College of Applied Biologists recognizes and respects that Indigenous Traditional Knowledge and professional applied biology are complementary practices in managing and protecting natural resources. As such, the reserved practice for applied biology does not include Indigenous traditional practices in resource management.
Effectively, as of September 1, 2022, anyone practicing applied biology as defined in the Applied Biologists Regulation must be registered with the College of Applied Biologists. The College’s process for compliance and enforcement with reserved title and reserved practice can be found in the reserved practice compliance plan.
Reserved Practice Information Sessions and Outreach
The College continues implementation of the reserved practice in applied biology and will be conducting outreach to registrants, employers, governments and other stakeholders in a variety of formats. From time to time, the College will also host in-person information sessions and webinars which offer greater opportunities to speak with College representatives regarding the implementation of reserved practice. In-person sessions have been held in Campbell River, Nanaimo, Kamloops, Whitehorse and Prince George as part of in-person outreach.
If you would like to arrange for a presentation at your organization from College staff about reserved practice and compliance, please contact the College office. The College can provide information via videoconference and, in some cases, provide in-person sessions.
Reserved Practice and Reserved Title Compliance Plan
The College is designated under Schedule 1 of the Professional Governance Act (PGA) as a professional regulator “that is responsible for the governance of a profession under this enactment”. The PGA and its associated regulations protect the “titles” and “practice” that are reserved for registrants of a profession. For the College that means that the titles of “applied biology technician”, “professional biologist”, “registered biology technologist” and “applied biology limited licensee” (along with their corresponding “in training designations”) are reserved for the exclusive use of registrants of the College. The College Applied Biologists also has the authority to enforce the reserved practice of applied biology as defined in the Applied Biologists Regulation. In short, it is a contravention of the regulation for an individual that is not a registrant of the College to perform work that falls under the reserved practice of applied biology. It is also an infringement to present themselves using a protected title under the Applied Biologists Regulation.
