At the 2018 Annual General Meeting, CAPR presented its highest honour, the Award of Distinction, to Joyce Vogelgesang and Dianne Millette for their ground-breaking work advancing public protection and physiotherapy regulation across the country. Dianne Millette has served as the Registrar in three separate juris­dictions across Canada. Joyce Vogelgesang is the Deputy Registrar for Physiotherapy Alberta. Both, through their work with CAPR’s Registrars Committee, have made significant contributions to the cross-Canada harmonization of regulatory policy and resources in recent years.

Pan-Canadian regulatory projects

Between the two of them, they have led major projects such as a single regulatory Code of Ethical Conduct, Core Standards of Prac­tice for Physiotherapists in Canada, national decision-making guide­lines for Good Character, a Memorandum of Understanding and regulatory guidelines for the delivery of cross-border physiotherapy services and a review and recommendations regarding the align­ment of registration practices across the country. The value of this work – for regulators, for physiotherapists and for physiotherapy candidates – cannot be over-stated.

And more innovation

Dianne and Joyce have been instrumental to the data analysis work in Alberta and now in British Columbia relating to identifying regula­tory risk and protective factors for physiotherapy practice. Addition­ally, the Physiotherapy Alberta Physiotherapist Knowledge Self-assessment Tool has garnered unprecedented interest among inter­nationally-educated physiotherapy candidates.

Dianne is a visionary whose ideas outpace our ability to keep up with her. Partnered with Joyce’s clear-eyed analysis and relentless work ethic great things have happened. Congratulations Dianne and Joyce!