Professional Chemist - Unlicensed Practice

Unlicensed Practice

Since the regulation of the practice of chemistry is performed by the individual provinces in Canada, areas of chemistry which are an exception to mandatory regulatory requirements are:

(a) A professor teaching chemistry in an accredited program.

(b) Military personnel currently actively licensed with the Canadian government.

Chemists are not registered in a specific discipline but are prohibited by the code of ethics from practicing beyond their training and experience. Breaches of the code are often sufficient grounds for enforcement, which may include the suspension or loss of license, as well as financial penalties and now, through recent changes to Canadian law, could also result in jail time should negligence be shown to have played a part in any incident in which there is loss of human life. Some examples of a professional chemist would be an oilfield chemist, drilling fluids chemist, environmental chemist, biochemist, a pharmacist.