Roles and Responsibilities of Council
The College’s primary duty is to serve and protect the public interest while promoting high standards of practice for the professions. At the same time, the College encourages a robust interactive relationship with registrants, stakeholders and the public. To steer and guide these processes, Council’s primary governance function is policy development. The policies developed by Council provide direction to the College and to staff.
Council meetings are open to the public. Dates are announced on this website and highlights from each meeting are published on the website and in our Perspective newsletter.
Council makes decisions in accordance with its primary mandate to serve and protect the public interest. This includes:
- Developing policies to regulate the practice of social work and social service work which reflect the College’s public protection mandate; and
- Governing and managing the affairs of the College by establishing goals and policies in accordance with relevant legislation and our mission, vision and values.
Essentially, the role of Council is to focus on the “why” and “when,” not the “how.” The “how” is operationalized by staff under the leadership of the Registrar and CEO.
Council members must adhere to the College’s Code of Conduct, which sets out the standards of conduct governing the professional and the ethical responsibilities of Council members. It addresses the principles of good conduct, collegial responsibility and personal conduct. Members of Council are responsible for applying an appropriate standard of conduct and acting in an ethical and professional manner. Council members are required to sign off on the Code of Conduct on an annual basis.
The principles set out in this Code are founded on the professional and ethical values approved by the College, which are there to ensure that the College’s primary duty — to serve and protect the public interest — is upheld.
Please note: Throughout the OCSWSSW’s website and documents, the term “member” and “registrant” are used interchangeably and synonymously as equivalent to the term “member” as used in the Social Work and Social Service Work Act, 1998, and the Regulations.