Dulcie McCallum was asked by the Public Guardian and Trustee to undertake a consultation process with the community regarding who, if anyone, should be designated as a class of persons prescribed by regulation to be a consultant for the purpose of section 9 of the Representation Agreement Act.

Ms. McCallum’s report (This report is a pdf document. Acrobat Reader is needed - click here to download) describes the consultation process that took place between February and July 2000 and makes several recommendations.

The Public Guardian and Trustee submitted the report to Government. On September 25, 2000 the Attorney General announced that the following recommendations were accepted.

Key Recommendations Accepted by Government
1. That notaries public be designated as a prescribed class of persons under s.9 of the Representation Agreement Act and that the Notaries Act be amended to include reference to representation agreements as a responsibility of notaries;
2. That no other class of persons be designated at this time;
5. That the Representation Agreement Act be amended to provide for a form of section 9 representation agreement to be prescribed by regulation and that use of that form be optional.
6. That notaries public be required to take a training course for competency examination pre-approved by the Public Guardian and Trustee as a pre-requisite to acting as a consultant to persons wishing to prepare a section 9 representation agreement; and

Implementation Timing

As adopting these recommendations involves changes to two statutes, and the development and approval of a curriculum and examination for the training program, it will take some time before these changes can be implemented. The Government has indicated it will make every effort to ensure the delay is as short as circumstances permit and that consultation with representatives in the health, legal and advocacy communities will continue.

The Government will be taking the other recommendations in the McCallum Report under advisement, but will not act directly to implement them at this time. The implementation of representation agreements and the changes announced by government will be monitored.