Professions and Professional Orders

Quebec professions and professional orders. Professions as in detailed and specific training and knowledge and professionals as in meeting professional standards such as social obligations and social services based on knowledge, competence, judgement, integrity and equity.

Professions and professionals within a territory called the province of Quebec where approximately fifty orders oversee the work of nearly 400,000 professionals such as architects, accountants, dentists, engineers, pharmacists ...

Professions, fields of work and organizations that, within a given territory, comprise the members of the same profession in a liberal manner and ensures proper regulation of the professions, their characteristics and their unique functions

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Office des professions du Québec

The origin of our Quebec professions list and system dates back to the Nouvelle-France while the law that now governs our Professional Code was sanctioned in 1973.

A code system of professions that gave rise to the Office des professions du Québec (OPQ) composed of 38 professional orders in its early days. An OPQ now composed of 46 professional orders, 54 regulated professions and more than 390,000 members.

City of Montreal - Photo RLB

In 1995, the OPQ became an extra budgetary government agency. The financing of its expenditure now being guaranteed by the members of the Professional Orders through annual membership set by the Quebec Government and collected by the Professional Orders.

Today, the specific role of the OPQ - Office des Professions du Québec - is to guarantee the competence and the integrity of the professionals and professional orders and to ensure proper and adequate public protection.

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Conseil Interprofessionnel du Québec

The Conseil Interprofessionnel du Québec (CIQ) was founded in 1965. In 1973, upon the adoption of our Professional Code, the CIQ became the collective voice of all our Professional Orders and an important source of information for future professionals as well as the general public.

Each Professional Order must be a member of the Conseil Interprofessionnel du Québec. A CIQ - Conseil Interprofessionnel du Québec - that does not receive any funding from the Quebec Government to which it must account to every year.

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Compared to the OPQ - Office des Professions du Québec - the CIQ is self-financed by a compulsory overall amount set every year by its members and by self-financing activities such as training sessions and seminars.

Reserved Titles & Exclusive Right to Practice

Professions with "reserved titles" means that 26 professions belonging to 21 Professional Orders do not have the exclusive right to practice their professional activities.

In other words, 26 types of qualified specialists can provide professional services without being a member of a Professional Order as long as they do not pretend to be a member of any Professional Order.

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Professions with "reserved titles and exclusive right to practice" means that 28 professions have the exclusive right to use the title, to provide the professional services offered by each of their 25 Professional Orders and to lawfully practice the activities reserved to their profession.

Our 54 professions are governed by a Quebec Professional Code and are supervised by 46 professional orders. Our Professional Orders serve and protect the public while our Professional Associations serve the interests of their professional members.