Official Languages committee  Good afternoon. Thank you for the invitation to share on this important issue. The mandate of the College of Nurses is the regulation of nursing in the public interest. We are in a unique position nationally, as we are currently the only nursing regulator responsible for the reg

Official Languages committee  I can start speaking to that. First of all, this goes back a number of years. I think one of the largest misconceptions, and you continually hear it being said today, is that this is an American exam. It's not an American exam. I think there were certain requirements we had actu

Official Languages committee  —looks at the cultural differences even within Canada. When we looked at the exam, one of the things we looked at was to have that be in place. Second, the exam was not purchased and then implemented without any review process; in fact, Canadians are now part of the process for

Official Languages committee  They're only in English, but again, it's not the role of the regulator to provide preparatory materials for students in preparing to write the regulatory exams.

Official Languages committee  I might as well start by saying that I hope it didn't feel as if we've underplayed or not taken this issue seriously. We do, but I feel that we are in a unique position in Ontario. I think Ms. Janes actually highlighted that there are differences even in the way the program is de

Official Languages committee  The other thing that I think I want to share with the committee is the role of the regulator and the role of the educational institution. As you know, the role of the regulator is to determine the entry exam. It would be something of a conflict of interest to have the education c

Official Languages committee  One thing I think we need to look at, and we've shared it in the data we've shown you, is that this discussion centres around a Canadian exam. I would draw your attention to the data we provided. In fact previously the exam provider was a Canadian organization, and the difference

Official Languages committee  What I can say is that the individuals who have said that they have reviewed the exam have in fact not done so. The exam, because of the high stakes nature—

Official Languages committee  It's not a yes or no question you're asking. What I'm suggesting is that it's possible, unless we have a conversation on the process it's undertaken. When we have Canadians involved in all steps of the process, including the creation of the question through the translation—

Official Languages committee  I think—

Official Languages committee  Consultation takes various different forms. I would suggest that if you were writing an exam that is going to be testing concepts that were taught in a program, it may be problematic to have the individuals who were involved in teaching the program setting the test.

Official Languages committee  By consultation you mean....

Official Languages committee  The content of the exam is—now we can have that discussion as well, too—being taught through the curriculum of the programs. We've done a full study of that as well, to ensure that.... Ontario also sets the entry requirements, so we ensure that the entry requirements of the prog

Official Languages committee  Again by consultation—

Official Languages committee  The content of the exam is taught in the programs that we approve and that we review on an ongoing basis, to ensure that the content of the program is something that is being tested by the exam. That's part of our overall mandate, to ensure that all these components work together