Since our August 2026 update on Council activities, Council met once for their regular meeting in September. These are Council’s activities since our last update:
2025-26 Annual Report
The Health Professions Act requires colleges to prepare an annual report. Council and staff contribute to the report to demonstrate how our activities protect the interests of Albertans and support safe, ethical oral health care. Council considered the draft 2025-25 Annual Report and approved submitting it to the Minister and sharing it with our communities.
Audited financial statements
Council’s responsibilities include financial oversight of the College. We use an external auditor to audit our finances and provide findings. The audited financial statements for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2026, will be included in our 2025-26 Annual Report.
Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice
As part of our ongoing work to modernize our professional practice framework, Council reviewed a draft Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice suite. The draft documents are intended to provide clear, enforceable and connected expectations for safe, competent and ethical dental assisting practice.
Consultation
The drafts will be publicly available for stakeholder review and comment and provided to the Minister. Council will consider all feedback before deciding whether to adopt the proposed documents.
Committee terms of reference
Council appoints several committees to support its work and fulfil requirements in the Health Professions Act. Each committee has terms of reference that outline the purpose, structure, authority and responsibilities of the committee.
The terms of reference have been updated to align with the Governance Policies Council recently approved.
Governance
To support Council’s ability to oversee and govern, meetings include time for learning, strategic planning, project updates, presentations, committee reports and ongoing performance review. This meeting included:
- reviewing and updating the 2025-30 Strategic Plan
- a presentation about the program approval project
- a presentation from the College of Alberta Denturists
- reserve funds tracking report
- summary of recent motions
- review of meeting effectiveness after the meeting concluded
Meeting minutes
Council approved the minutes from the August 20, 2026, meeting.
Program Approval
Council approved next steps in the ongoing program approval transition to continue implementing the recommendations from the 2025 Program Approval Review. The recommendations address improving transparency, defensibility, and alignment between education and practice readiness, while reinforcing risk-focused and data-informed governance.
The approved next steps include a regulatory design foundation that provides a structure for the Program Approval assurance function, and an assurance model with clear College ownership and decision-making authority, and external specialist support. Within Council’s direction, authority and budget, Administration will develop the detailed assurance function and implement it in stages, with ongoing reporting to Council.
Reserve funds
Maintaining reserve funds supports our financial stability, regulatory continuity, and public interest obligations. Council authorized two transfers from unrestricted net assets: $500,000 to the Operations Reserve and $100,000 to the Discipline Reserve. The Operations Reserve supports business continuity during an unforeseen business interruption. The Discipline Reserve supports meeting the demands of complex discipline matters.
