Committees support the work of the Board and contribute towards advancing the College’s mandate to serve and protect the public interest by helping to carry out the core functions of the College as set out in legislation and regulation, By-law, and in alignment with the Board-defined strategic framework and priorities.
Committees at the College are comprised of professional committee appointees, who are registered pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, and lay committee appointees, who are members of the public. Some committees include members of the College’s Board of Directors, where required under provincial statute.
Professional Committee Appointees
Professional committee appointees are pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who are not elected members of the Board of Directors and whose competencies, skills, and experience align with the College’s needs and obligations.
The College is not currently recruiting professional committee appointees.
Professional committee appointees are compensated and have their expenses reimbursed as per the College’s Board and Committee Remuneration Policy.
Lay Committee Appointees
The Regulated Health Professions Act mandates that a minimum of nine Public Directors appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council sit on the College’s Board and Committees. The public appointments secretariat recruits and screens prospective candidates for appointments to the boards of provincial agencies and other public organizations and provides them compensation for their services.
From time to time, the College also recruits members of the public whose competencies, skills, and experience align with the College’s needs and obligations to sit on committees of the College as lay committee appointees. These individuals should have an interest in playing an active role in the regulation of pharmacy and help to ensure that valuable public perspectives are reflected across College committees.
Lay Committee appointees will be appointed in the following circumstances:
- where there is either no legislated requirement for Public Directors or
- due to the significant demand on the government-appointed public members, the Governance Committee feels that additional lay committee appointees should be appointed to help ensure the public voice is maintained
The College is not currently recruiting lay committee appointees.
Lay committee appointees will be selected using the same competency-based recruitment and screening process as professional committee appointments and will receive the same honorarium as professional committee appointees.
Role of a Committee Appointee
As a committee appointee, you play an important role in the College’s commitment to advance the interests, health, and wellbeing of the public. As such, you also have a fiduciary duty to assert undivided loyalty and good faith in fulfilling the mandate of the College.
Committee Appointees are expected to:
- Comply with the Code of Conduct.
- Demonstrate a Duty of Care which requires that appointees exercise the same care, diligence and skill that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in comparable circumstances. Duty of Care requires appointees take appropriate steps so that they can make sound, informed decisions. This duty includes:
- Being Diligent – being prepared for meetings, reviewing materials, arriving on time and participating in discussion.
- Being Civil – respecting the process and fellow committee members, paying attention (e.g., no mobile devices during the meetings), genuine listening and consideration and adopting an objective approach to decision making.
- Being Ethical – using College resources appropriately, being aware of the facts (e.g., reading the materials on a particular matter).
- Being cognizant of and declaring Conflicts of Interest (e.g. financial, adjudicative, and organizational).
- Demonstrate accountability to the public through decision making that is grounded in the public interest.
- Understand and support the respective roles and responsibilities of the Board, Committees and staff.
- Maintain constructive, collaborative and mutually respectful relations with others.
- Conduct themselves both in person and on all social media in a manner that upholds their fiduciary duty to the College, and act as an ambassador of the OCP.
- Acquire knowledge of policies and procedures, including relevant legislation, strategic directions and the Board values.
- Participate in orientation, training and education offered.
- To make decisions as a collective group and hold joint responsibility for decisions and actions taken by the Board or Committee, even in their absence.