CAPHE-ACESS is a voluntary professional association whose members have an interest in pursuing or contributing to the professionalization of Practising Healthcare Ethicists* in Canada.

While our field has continued to grow in the last few decades, the work of Practising Healthcare Ethicists in Canada has yet to be described in a standardized way. Without such agreed standards within the field, the work of Practising Healthcare Ethicists cannot be regulated as a distinct profession with a distinct role. Standardization and regulation helps to protect the public by defining the scope, roles, and responsibilities of the practitioners within a recognized profession, bringing accountability and a degree of standardization to the field.

In order to bring Canada-wide agreed standards of practice and professional expectation, CAPHE-ACESS working deliberatively with our members and other interested parties to develop practice defining texts such as a scope of practice statement, a code of ethics, a series of practice standards statements, a set of core competencies, and educational requirements. These guiding documents will represent a consensus among CAPHE-ACESS Members on their understanding of the fundamental expectation of Practising Healthcare Ethicists across the country. While this is one step toward achieving regulation, and protected title, it is first and foremost a critical step in defining our practice as we understand it ourselves, and setting expectations for what we do in our work, and what the public can expect of us professionally.

Given our healthcare system and its primarily provincial/territorial oversight, any eventual regulation and conferring of protected title would ultimately be realized within each provincial/territorial jurisdiction. Our nationally developed resources are intended to assist with those regional efforts whenever they may be initiated.