Panel Session D: April 24, 2025 | 12:00 - 1:30 p.m. ET
Co-chairs
Title: Professional Conduct and Complaints: Navigating Ethics, Accountability, and Trauma-Informed Regulation
Professional organizations with a duty to protect the public need a way to respond when members of the public believe a professional has failed to uphold ethical or practice standards. That is why every professional act provides a way for the public to complain and a system for disciplinary action. In the Professional Geoscientists Act, that action can range from reprimands, through restrictions on practice, up to suspending the member’s right to practice or removing it entirely. Little wonder, then, that members are often perturbed, scared, offended, or angry when notice of a complaint lands in their inboxes.
This session offers an overview of the complaints process, explaining how it works, the defences available to professionals on the business end of a complaint, and things the professional can do to prevent formal complaints and better handle them if they do arrive. Presenters will also offer some perspective and history on real-life complaints.
See Panel Session D page for presentations and speakers.