Grab your favourite beverage, find a comfortable chair, access the Code of Ethics and the Standards of Practice –
Then start your review here.

In November 2020, ACSLPA’s Anti-Racism and Anti-Discrimination Advisory Committee (ARADAC) was tasked with reviewing the College’s Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice. The purpose of the review was to identify whether there were any real or perceived instances of systemic discrimination or racism caused by, perpetuated by, or left unaddressed within either document.

Revisions recommended by the ARADAC seek to:

  • make the documents more inclusive to equity-seeking groups,
  • acknowledge cross-cultural differences in access to care and experiences when accessing care,
  • acknowledge cross-cultural differences in processes that impact service delivery (e.g., health seeking behaviours, communication norms),
  • acknowledge considerations required for SLPs and audiologists when working with clients whose cultural and linguistic backgrounds differ from their own,
  • acknowledge the wider social, economic, and political contexts of equity-seeking groups in the context of service provision by regulated members, and
  • make the documents more in-line with anti-racist care best practice approaches.

The Code of Ethics outlines the ethical conduct expectations for members of both professions.

The Standards of Practice define the minimum level of professional performance that SLPs and audiologists are expected to demonstrate to ensure competent, safe, and ethical practice.

The two documents work in tandem with other guiding documents; A visual depiction of this relationship is available as part of the Code of Ethics document (refer to page 3) and as part of the Standards of Practice document (refer to page 5).

This project has the support of ACSLPA Council. Thus far, the documents have been reviewed by staff and by a focus group comprised of professional members.  Prior to submitting the documents to Alberta Health for an external stakeholder consultation in September, we want to hear from YOU – the membership!

Once you have read the draft documents, we anticipate completing the survey questions should take less than 30 minutes. As you embark on your review, a few points for your consideration:

  • We are seeking your overall gut impressions or reactions to the revised Code and the Standards of Practice. From an anti-racism and anti-discrimination perspective, how do they sit with you? Do they make sense? Is there redundancy?
    Are there gaps?
  • Previously there was considerable overlap between the Code and the Standards-this time around we have minimized duplication across these two documents. Hence, the Code of Ethics is now focused on the WHY or the values, morals and motives underpinning members’ actions, whereas the Standards of Practice are focused on HOW members are expected to practice, or what they need to do to meet minimum requirements.
  • We have added a few new definitions into the glossaries of terms that relate to anti-racism and anti-discrimination, such as bias, cultural humility, cultural safety, inclusion, etc.
  • We are using gender neutral language (i.e., pronouns they/them vs. he/she/his/her)
  • We have updated the content related to the standard on advertising and promotional communications. These revisions are not focused on anti-racism or anti-discrimination but were outstanding items that we had wanted to revise for some time; Opening up the standards for member review allowed us to also attend to this standard in terms of clarifying requirements
    for members.
  • We have not included the Standard of Practice on Sexual Abuse and Sexual Misconduct in this review. We will not be making changes to this Standard at the current time.
  • The formatting may not be perfect yet-we will work on this once we have finalized the content of both documents.

In order to meet submission timelines to government on these documents, the deadline for member feedback is August 18.

Please feel free to contact Susan Rafaat at deputyregistrar@acslpa.ca directly should you have any questions or wish to discuss any of your feedback in more depth.