2025 Vancouver Regional Symposium
June 10, 2025 | The University of British Columbia - Robson Square
CLEAR is excited to welcome attendees to the 2025 Vancouver Regional Symposium. Below you can view the symposium agenda, session resources, the symposium attendee list, and the evaluation survey link (to be posted after the conclusion of the program). Please contact Virginia Shapland if you have any questions.
NOTE: This webpage is intended as a resource for symposium attendees and CLEAR members only.
Trust in Regulation: Strengthening Confidence, Compliance, & Collaboration
June 10, 2025 | The University of British Columbia
Trust in regulatory bodies is both a critical asset and an ongoing challenge. Regulators must navigate complex landscapes where public confidence, stakeholder engagement, and compliance outcomes are shaped by perceptions of fairness, transparency, and accountability.
This one-day symposium will explore the role of trust in regulatory processes and its impact on relationships between regulators, licensees, and the public. Participants will gain insights into how increased trust in regulators can drive greater voluntary compliance and improve public protection. Sessions will highlight best practices for fostering trust through meaningful engagement with registrants, the public, and government, as well as strategies for addressing skepticism and rebuilding confidence. The symposium will also examine the broader contexts in which regulators operate, including the unique challenges of the Canadian regulatory landscape. Discussions will address pressures from political and legislative shifts, workforce shortages, emerging technologies, and growing public expectations for more inclusive and responsive regulation.
Join fellow regulators and regulatory stakeholders for a day of critical discussions and practical insights into strengthening trust in professional and occupational regulation.
2025 Vancouver Symposium Program
8:00 – 9:00 a.m. Registration & Breakfast
9:00 – 9:15 a.m. Symposium Welcome & Introductions
Tammy Kohut | CEO/Registrar, College of Opticians of Alberta
9:15 – 9:45 a.m. Trust Is Not Given but Earned
Harry Cayton | Professional Regulation and Governance
Description forthcoming.
9:45 – 10:00 a.m. Break
10:00 – 11:00 a.m. Trust Through Transition: Building Confidence Amid Structural Change
Moderator: Harry Cayton | Professional Regulation and Governance
Chris Hacker | Registrar/CEO, BC College of Oral Health Professionals
Dianne Millette | CEO/Registrar, College of Health and Care Professionals of BC
Structural change in regulation, whether through amalgamation, modernization, or shifting mandates, presents a critical opportunity to either build or erode public trust. This panel brings together two of British Columbia’s most senior regulatory leaders to reflect on what it means to establish trust as a new organization formed from legacy bodies. Drawing on their experience leading some of the country’s most complex regulatory transitions, panelists will share how they’ve navigated stakeholder expectations, honored organizational histories, and made deliberate choices to position their colleges as credible, responsive, and accountable public institutions. This session will explore both the strategic and relational work required to earn trust in a time of transformation.
11:00 – 11:15 a.m. Break
11:15 – 12:00 p.m. Fostering an Ecosystem of Trust
Carla Rhyant | Executive Director and Registrar, Association of AB Forest Management Professionals
Regulators must clearly discern and balance individual stakeholder expectations within broader regulatory environments. Through forestry-based stories, this session traces how regulators cultivate legitimacy, extend engagement to a broader canopy of voices, and adapt to changing social and environmental conditions. Special attention will be given to the distinctive position of smaller regulators in niche professions—their agility, close community ties, and heightened resource pressures—and how these factors can both nourish and challenge credibility. Practical examples and evidence-informed insights will illuminate the conditions that allow trust to sucker, grow, and persist through change when regulatory decisions are firmly rooted in public interest and responsive to diverse stakeholder expectations.
12:00 – 1:15 p.m. Networking Lunch
1:15 – 2:15 p.m. Embedding Trust and Reconciliation in Regulatory Practice
Dave Bhauruth | Executive Director – Reconciliation, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, BC College of Nurses and Midwives
Johanna Ward | Senior Communications Strategist, BC College of Nurses and Midwives
Anne Sommerfeld | Regulatory Learning Consultant, BC College of Nurses and Midwives
The In Plain Sight report (2020) showed the devastating impact Indigenous-specific racism has on health outcomes for Indigenous people in B.C. and underscored the urgent need for all partners in the health-care system to take swift and decisive action to dismantle the systemic racism that has led to such poor health outcomes for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis (Indigenous) Peoples.
BCCNM has committed to eradicating Indigenous-specific racism in the health-care system—but what does that look like in practice? This panel will delve into our work of diversifying our board and committees, with 50% of our board members now identifying as Indigenous; to build a community of practice for Indigenous members, and our work with the new Superintendent’s office to ensure we are compliant with new overarching legislation, the Health Professions & Occupations Act.
The panel will share how our work to engage our staff and support them on their learning journeys has many challenges and differs from traditional communications approaches. Finally, we’ll delve into our registrant engagement, how we’re supporting nurses and midwives to understand and apply the Indigenous Cultural Safety, Cultural Humility, and Anti-racism practice standard while working in an overstretched system.
2:15 – 2:30 p.m. Break
2:30 – 3:45 p.m. Trust the (Compliance) Process: Balancing Transparency, Accountability, and Compassion
Moderator: Jennifer Garrett | Deputy Secretary, Wisconsin Dept. of Safety & Professional Services
Kirk Huxley | Manager, Investigations, Professional Conduct, Insurance Council of BC
Michelle Stimac | Legal Counsel, College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC
Trust in regulation is often tested through the compliance and discipline process where transparency, fairness, and sensitivity must be carefully balanced. This panel will explore how regulatory bodies are working to uphold public protection while embedding equity, empathy, and clarity into their investigative and enforcement procedures. Panelists will reflect on how procedural design, communication choices, and public expectations shape trust in regulatory outcomes while sharing strategies for managing frivolous complaints, respecting registrant dignity, and communicating complex decisions clearly and respectfully. At the conclusion of the session, attendees will have the opportunity to pose questions to the panelists and speakers from throughout the day's program.
3:45 – 4:00 p.m. Concluding Remarks
Tammy Kohut | CEO/Registrar, College of Opticians of Alberta
2025 Vancouver Symposium Speakers
Kirk Huxley
Symposium slide decks and additional resources will be posted here as they become available/at the conclusion of the symposium program. CLEAR thanks our speakers for sharing these resources with our attendees.
Trust Is Not Given but Earned
Harry Cayton | Independent Consultant and Regulatory Expert
Additional Resources: Onora O'Neill "A Question of Trust" lecture series recordings
Trust Through Transition: Building Confidence Amid Structural Change
Moderator: Harry Cayton | Independent Consultant and Regulatory Expert
Chris Hacker | Registrar/CEO, BC College of Oral Health Professionals
Dianne Millette | CEO/Registrar, College of Health and Care Professionals of BC
Fostering an Ecosystem of Trust (UPDATED)
Carla Rhyant | Executive Director and Registrar, Association of AB Forest Management Professionals
Additional Resources: sound & movement of the aspen tree versus the Saskatoon berry
Embedding Trust and Reconciliation in Regulatory Practice
Dave Bhauruth | Executive Director – Reconciliation, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, BC College of Nurses and Midwives
Johanna Ward | Senior Communications Strategist, BC College of Nurses and Midwives
Anne Sommerfeld | Regulatory Learning Consultant, BC College of Nurses and Midwives
Additional Resources: Indigenous Specific Racism Publications, Indigenous Cultural Safety, Cultural Humility and Anti-Racism practice standard and companion guide
Trust the (Compliance) Process: Balancing Transparency, Accountability, and Compassion
Moderator: Jennifer Garrett | Deputy Secretary, Wisconsin Dept. of Safety & Professional Services
Kirk Huxley | Manager, Investigations, Professional Conduct, Insurance Council of BC
Michelle Stimac | Legal Counsel, College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC
Additional Resources: Cristie Ford "Regulation as Respect"