2.3 Fraudulent/Irregular Documents and Cheating

Date Effective:  February 25, 2013

Scope: This policy applies to all internationally-educated physiotherapists applying to CAPR’s credentialling process.

Principles: This policy has been designed in accordance with the Pan-Canadian Framework for the Assessment and Recognition of Foreign Qualifications principles of fairness, transparency, timeliness and consistency and in consideration of CAPR’s core values of protecting the public interest.

Purpose

To promote safety and quality of physiotherapy in Canada, all documents and test results submitted to CAPR as part of the credentialling process will be checked to confirm that they are valid and authentic.

Policy

All documents and test results submitted to the credentialling process by an applicant or on his or her behalf will be examined by a Credentialling Officer to confirm that they are authentic.

Fraudulent/Irregular Documents or Cheating

If a Credentialling Officer has reason to believe that documents or results are forged, fraudulent, altered, irregular or involved cheating, then CAPR shall investigate. The applicant will be contacted to verify the information. If the applicant cannot provide a satisfactory explanation, the file will be closed. All documents received become the property of CAPR, and CAPR will notify the applicants or their representative and the credentialling agencies that CAPR is partnered with. CAPR also reserves the right to inform its member Canadian regulators and the educational institution that supposedly issued the credentials.

If an application has been closed due to the finding of an irregular document or cheating, then the applicant is allowed to appeal the finding through the Administrative Reconsideration/Appeals process. Individual Credentialling Officers will be able to give instructions should applicants choose to apply for administrative consideration or appeal.

Degree Mills or Diploma Mills

CAPR does not accept physiotherapy credentials from ‘degree mills’ or ‘diploma mills’. Degree mills use names of non-existent universities, or establish a university without proper authorization, to sell documents that are not backed by appropriate study or examinations, and diploma mills sell documents not backed by appropriate study or examinations and operate without the supervision of a state or professional agency. Applicants found to possess physiotherapy credentials from such institutions will be subject to the penalties above.

If an applicant is found to have cheated or committed fraud in a way that does not impact the documents needed for credentialling, CAPR will continue the document assessment but will still notify its partners as stated above.