Applicant v. College of Health and Care Professionals of British Columbia (No. 1), 2025 BCHPRB 19

This decision concerns the refusal by a professional regulatory body to register a French-speaking speech-language pathologist trained abroad on the basis that she did not meet the English language proficiency requirement. The applicant argued that her registration should have been granted on a conditional basis, as she undertook to practise exclusively in French within a francophone school board.

The applicant relied, in particular, on the underlying values of section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and on the importance of access to professional services in French for the francophone minority. The regulatory body concluded that the English language proficiency requirement served the objective of public protection and that it lacked the authority to grant registration limited to practice in French.

On review, the decision-maker concluded that language rights protected by the Charter do not confer a right to professional registration and that the values underlying section 23 do not extend to the regulation of access to health professions. The English language proficiency requirement was found to be reasonable and consistent with the objective of public protection.

The application for review was dismissed.