In College of Midwives of British Columbia v. MaryMoon, 2020 BCCA 224, the BC Court of Appeal upheld a prohibition on the use of occupational titles reserved to members of health professions colleges to describe a person’s work as a justified limitation on freedom of expression.
Lindsay Waddell and Daniel McBain of Moore Edgar Lyster LLP represented the intervenor, the College of Speech and Hearing Health Professionals of British Columbia (“CSHBC”). CSHBC argued that the prohibition was necessary to enable members of the public to identify who is, and who is not, a regulated professional, and that this was particularly important to newly regulated professions that do not have the benefit of widespread public recognition. Without a restriction on title usage, newly regulated professions would not be able to build the necessary public awareness and health care consumers would be vulnerable to unqualified and unregulated individuals.
Read the decision here.