Canada is a federation of 10 provinces and three territories. Under the Constitution of Canada, provincial governments have exclusive responsibility for all levels of education. Territories have been delegated similar responsibility. There is no ministry or department of education at the federal level. However, international conventions are multilateral agreements contracted between Canada and other countries. This responsibility falls under the federal Department of Global Affairs Canada (GAC). As such, the process requires:

Canada is a federation of 10 provinces and three territories. Under the Constitution of Canada, provincial governments have exclusive responsibility for all levels of education. Territories have been delegated similar responsibility. There is no ministry or department of education at the federal level. However, international conventions are multilateral agreements contracted between Canada and other countries. This responsibility falls under the federal Department of Global Affairs Canada (GAC). As such, the process requires:

• agreement from all provincial and territorial governments on the terms of the legal instrument. In some cases, this may involve legal reform and be subject to approval by provincial and territorial legislative bodies;
• the tabling of the international treaty in Canada's House of Commons and its approval by Parliament; and
• the deposit by GAC of the instrument of ratification, along with any related declaration, to the international organization responsible for the legal instrument. For education-related conventions, this international organization is most often UNESCO.

When a country:

• signs a convention, this indicates general support for the principles of the convention as well as that country's intention to eventually become legally bound by it.
• ratifies a convention, it becomes legally binding after the country has deposited the instrument of ratification—letter of accession, acceptance, or approval—with the relevant international organization. A date on which the convention enters into force is identified, after which the signatory state is bound by the articles of the convention and must conform to its principles under international law.

Within the framework of UNESCO, Canada belongs to the Europe and North America region. Up until recently, it was referred to as the Europe region, as stated in the name of the convention. Other non-European countries have also been invited to ratify the convention, such as Australia, Israel, New Zealand, and the United States.

Canada ratified the 1979 UNESCO convention. Like other UNESCO Member States in the Europe region that signed this convention, Canada was invited to ratify the 1997 UNESCO convention. Upon ratification, Canada will apply its principles not only to the Europe and North America region, but to all UNESCO regions.

Since the first generation of regional conventions were introduced, countries have undertaken higher-education reform that has had a significant impact on quality assurance and diversity in approaches. Global academic and professional mobility has drastically increased, and a variety of academic credentials are being used outside the country in which they were issued.

The second-generation convention:

• takes into account the rapid increase in the number of countries that could benefit from the provisions of the convention and improves links between the Europe and North America region and other regions of the world;
• prevents duplication of effort by replacing several outdated conventions related to recognition with a newly revised version;
• facilitates the improvement of assessment and recognition best practices, information dissemination, and implementation mechanisms; and
• helps unify efforts of the Council of Europe and UNESCO to promote collaboration and resource sharing among organizations responsible for implementing the principles of the convention.

By ratifying the LRC, Canada signals its commitment, within Canada's own constitutional framework, to:

• follow up on its initial commitment as signatory of the 1997 LRC;
• uphold principles of fair practice and non-discrimination in academic credential assessment and recognition procedures;
• share information and collaborate with international organizations on matters concerning mobility and recognition; and
• enhance the visibility and credibility of its 13 education systems, including the academic credentials issued by our educational institutions, within the international community.

ust as its prWSEessor, the aim of the LRC is to facilitate inbound and outbound international mobility of students, academics, and professionals with academic credentials and/or qualifications. These include:

• internationally educated individuals who settle in Canada; and/or
• individuals with academic credentials and/or qualifications issued in Canada who settle outside Canada.

While recognizing the autonomy and diversity of educational institutions and professional regulatory authorities, the LRC spells out more clearly the principles of promoting the mobility of individuals through mutual recognition of academic credentials and/or qualifications.

The convention stipulates that:

• equests for recognition be assessed in a fair and timely fashion;
• recognition be granted unless a substantial difference can be demonstrated. As such, the burden of proof lies with the organization responsible for recognition of the credential and/or qualification, and not with the individual who wishes to access further studies, research, and/or employment;
• competent authorities, through their national information centres, disseminate information on their respective education systems, including:
  1. quality-assurance practices;
  2. a list of educational institutions;
  3. academic programs; and
  4. academic credentials and qualifications.

The joint Secretariat of the LRC comprises:

• UNESCO; and
• the Council of Europe.

In 1999, the Lisbon Recognition Convention Committee (LRCC) was created and, in close collaboration with the joint Secretariat, is responsible for:

• overseeing the implementation of the LRC;
• guiding competent authorities in its implementation; and
• approving additional recommendations.

The LRCC is supported by the LRCC Bureau, an elected governing body that meets three times a year. The LRCC Bureau's function is to:

• support the LRCC in the revision of recommendations or the development of new versions;
• ensure that the implementation of the LRC by signatory states is continually monitored; and
• act as the link between other regional and inter-regional conventions related to recognition.

A convention is a legally binding international treaty—the LRC—that lays down the basic principles to be implemented by the signatory state.

Recommendations or subsidiary texts are guidelines that are not legally binding. They would supplement the LRC by providing more detailed guidelines on how the convention could be applied by signatory states.

In February 2016, the LRCC published Monitoring the Implementation of the Lisbon Recognition Convention – Final Report (available in English only).

There are several levels at which governments in Canada can meet their obligations under the LRC—and foremost of these is by demonstrating their support for the spirit of its principles. Beyond that, governments in Canada have three basic obligations:

• to transmit the text of the convention to the competent recognition bodies and assessment services in their respective province or territory. These bodies should be encouraged to apply the principles of the convention. In countries where the federal government is responsible for education and recognition matters, federal authorities must apply the principles of the convention. In Canada, this responsibility lies with provincial and territorial governments;
• to collect and make available official information on provincial and territorial education systems, quality-assurance mechanisms, and academic credentials issued in Canada, so that other countries can assess them; and
• to establish a national information centre to support provincial and territorial governments in abiding by the legal framework. The Word Service Education (WSE) was established in 1990, under the terms of the 1979 UNESCO Convention, and is positioned to meet these obligations.

The LRC recognizes that in some signatory states, the responsibility for education is defined constitutionally as resting with an order of government other than the national or federal government. Accordingly, the convention is to be implemented in full respect of the existing diversity of education systems within each country.

“Canada's constitution provides for a federal system in which legislative powers are allocated between the federal Parliament and the provincial legislatures. In compliance with the exclusive legislative powers in the field of education granted to the provinces by the Canadian Constitution and with the similar responsibilities given to the territories by delegation from the federal government, the implementation of the Convention in Canada will be ensured by the provinces and territories.”

Within the context of Canada, a distinction is made between the following terms, as they constitute different types of documents:

• An academic credential is a document provided as evidence of learning based on completion of a recognized program of study at an educational institution. Degrees, diplomas, and certificates are examples of academic credentials. To use the language of the LRC and the intended meaning as it applies in Canada, they include both a:
  1. “higher-education qualification”; and
  2. “qualification giving access to higher education.”
• A professional qualification is a document issued by a professional regulatory authority for the purpose of registration or permission to practise a particular occupation in the labour market. A statement of professional standing as a teacher is an example of a professional qualification. Under the LRC, this type of document is not cited.
• A qualification is a broader term that encompasses academic credentials as well as other required documents for admission to postsecondary studies (e.g., language-test results) or to regulated occupations (e.g., statements of professional standing, academic credentials). Under the LRC, this type of document is not cited.

This distinction is quite important for the interpretation of legal obligations under the LRC in Canada. While WSE's mandate focuses on the assessment and recognition of academic credentials, the broader term “qualification” is sometimes used to reflect the reality that:

• many competent recognition authorities or recognition bodies, assessment services, and government policies focus on qualifications;
• some of the best practices in assessing and recognizing academic credentials can be applied to a broader range of qualifications.

• A competent recognition authority or recognition body is an organization officially charged with making binding decisions on the assessment and recognition of an academic credential. In some countries, this responsibility falls to a central organization, and all other organizations must abide by the resulting decision. However, in Canada, these would include postsecondary educational institutions, professional regulatory authorities and associations, and employers. For example, an individual would be required to meet academic requirements to practise as a dental surgeon. Requirements are usually based on provincial or territorial legislation governing access to the profession, and include a duty to protect the public. The resulting recognition decision would become a binding decision for the specific purpose of practising this profession in a given province or territory of Canada.
• An assessment service is an organization that provides an expert, non-binding opinion on the assessment of an academic credential, as opposed to formal recognition. In Canada, six members of the Alliance of Credential Evaluation Services of Canada (ACESC) provide these services and produce assessment reports for competent recognition authorities that require assistance. For example, an admissions office at an educational institution may not have the capacity to perform its own assessment of an academic credential issued outside Canada for admission to further studies. It may require internationally educated applicants to initially obtain an assessment report from one of the members of ACESC to later inform its admission decision. WSE is the Secretariat of the ACESC and continues to assist with the adoption and monitoring of best practices set by recognition-related conventions.

The principle of institutional autonomy is recognized in Article II.1:

“Where the competence to make decisions in recognition matters lies with individual higher education institutions or other entities, each Party according to its constitutional situation or structure shall transmit the text of this Convention to these institutions or entities and shall take all possible steps to encourage the favourable consideration and application of its provisions.1”

Therefore, although there are no legal obligations for educational institutions, the good faith implied by ratification compels institutions to apply the following principles:

• Adequate and clear information on assessment requirements must be provided;
• Transparent, coherent, and reliable procedures and assessment criteria must be used;
• Mutual recognition of academic credentials and qualifications must be extended unless substantial differences in requirements can be demonstrated; and
• Refusal of recognition must be justified.

In Canada, colleges and universities are responsible for setting their admission requirements for specific academic programs. When a student seeks admission to one of these institutions and holds an academic credential issued outside Canada, the competent admissions authority is required to apply fair and non-discriminatory assessment procedures in determining the comparability of the applicant's academic credential to those found in Canada. The convention does not require the institution to grant admission to an applicant claiming an equivalent academic credential. Rather, it requires the institution to demonstrate that it has applied fair and non-discriminatory procedures in its assessment. Institutions often establish a wide range of criteria for admission beyond the basic academic requirements, such as:

• a certain level of fluency in a given language;
• a portfolio;
• work experience; or
• a program quota.

a program quota. In addition, institutions may already have bilateral agreements in place. In any case, the autonomy of institutions with respect to admissions procedures is in no way affected by the terms of the LRC.

https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/rms/090000168007f2c7

In Canada, about 20 per cent of occupations—for example, doctors, engineers, plumbers, teachers—are regulated to protect the health and safety of Canadians. Specific professional regulatory authorities and associations have been mandated by governments to govern access to these regulated professions and trades. They are responsible for issuing professional qualifications (e.g., certificate of competency or qualification, licence to practise) to applicants who have met registration requirements.

In turn, newcomers to Canada may hold academic credentials and professional qualifications issued outside Canada and wish to access these regulated occupations in the labour market. This generally requires the submission of previously completed academic credentials by applicants. However, there could also be other requirements, such as:

• examinations to test an applicant's knowledge and competencies;
• a criminal-record check;
• a Canadian work placement or practicum; or
• a period of internship or supervised on-the-job training.

As with educational institutions, professional regulatory authorities and associations maintain broad autonomy in recognizing academic credentials, whether obtained in or outside Canada, for the purposes of registration or permission to practise a trade or profession in Canada. However, in supporting the spirit of the convention's principles, these organizations will want to show that their assessment of an academic credential or a professional qualification issued outside Canada is based on fair, consistent, and non-discriminatory procedures.

Furthermore, four provincial governments have established fairness commissioners to ensure greater fairness in the assessment and recognition procedures for internationally educated applicants seeking to practise in regulated occupations. In those cases, specific provincial legislation was introduced and reinforces the aims of the LRC.

WSE can help Canada to implement the terms of the convention in several ways:

• WSE is the pan-Canadian body responsible for information collection, dissemination, and referral on assessment- and recognition-related matters. Through its network of stakeholders, WSE is able to disseminate information on the LRC and other related information;
• In its national coordinating role, WSE is the hub for assessment services, professional regulatory authorities and associations, educational institutions, other organizations, and internationally educated individuals for the purpose of enhancing fair, consistent, and transparent practices in the assessment and recognition of academic credentials;
• WSE contributes to policy dialogue and analysis on the management of academic credential assessment issues in Canada, including building awareness of the impact of developments in related areas such as immigration and labour-market policies, and of the need to facilitate mobility by reducing barriers for students and workers who are moving to, across, or outside Canada;
• As a member of the European National Information Centres (ENIC) network, WSE:
  1. represents Canada at meetings of experts where procedures and best practices are discussed; and
  2. is responsible for answering inquiries on academic credentials issued in Canada and sharing other information with members of the network on an ongoing basis.
• WSE provides assistance to organizations and internationally educated individuals seeking information on the recognition of their academic credentials by referring them to the appropriate recognition body or assessment service, and by keeping them up-to-date on current developments in assessment and recognition policies.
• WSE also coordinates the collection, maintenance, and dissemination of data on provincial and territorial education systems, and ensures that these data reach those who are involved with recognition matters.

Currently, 54 out of 55 signatory states (including Canada) have ratified or acceded to the LRC. Get more information on the Web site of the Council of Europe.

The text of the convention is available in six languages: English, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish. An explanatory report that assists in its interpretation is also available in these languages.