Some professions in Québec are administered by a professional order. Approximately fifty orders oversee the work of nearly 400,000 professionals such as architects, accountants, dentists, engineers and pharmacists.
Ensuring Competence and Integrity
By regulating access to a certain profession, the order is responsible for the competence and integrity of those who exercise the profession. It imposes certain common rules on its members, including a code of ethics. It monitors the practice of the profession and, if necessary, applies sanctions to those who do not follow the rules.
In order to practice one of the professions that are governed by an order in Greater Montréal area, you must become a member of this order. Ask the relevant order for information about admission procedures and fees for obtaining a permit in advance.
Also make sure that you have sufficient knowledge of the French language to be admitted to the order and to practice the profession. Your knowledge of French is considered sufficient if you did one of the following:
- studied full-time for at least three years in a secondary or post-secondary institution that provides instruction in French (high school, cégep or university)
- passed the French-language exams in the fourth or fifth year of secondary school
- obtained a high school diploma in Québec
If this is not the case for you, prepare yourself before the end of your studies with exams provided by the Service de l’évaluation du français pour les ordres professionnels, administered by the Office québécois de la langue française.
Did you know?
Contrary to popular belief, a professional order is not mandated to defend members of the profession: its mission is to protect the public. Professionals convene in professional associations, distinct from orders to defend their interests.
Find out more
- Regulated Professions in Quebec (Éducaloi)
- Professions governed by a Professional Order (Immigrant Québec – in French only)
- Office des professions du Québec (in French only)
