Update: New Canada / U.S.A. Mutual Recognition Agreement

The AIBC is pleased to confirm that on June 17, 2013, the Canadian Architectural Licensing Authorities (CALA) and the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) signed a new, national-level Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA). The agreement is based on an individual’s registration being in good standing in their home jurisdiction, along with one year’s post-registration experience. Most importantly, through this new agreement, architects who have completed either the NCARB Architectural Registration Examination (ARE) or the Examination for Architects in Canada (ExAC) during their internships will be eligible for Canada/U.S.A. inter-recognition.

The new MRA is slated to come into effective on January 1, 2014. Implementation on this date is dependent on at least 51% of individual U.S. state boards and 51% of Canadian jurisdictions becoming formal signatories to the agreement. At this time, all 11 Canadian jurisdictions have signed on. Once the new MRA does come into effect, the existing Canada/US Inter-Recognition Agreement will no longer apply.

To view the new MRA, please click here. To also view the pertinent CALA bulletin, please click here. If you have any queries regarding this matter, please feel free to contact the AIBC at registration@aibc.ca.

Think You’ve Seen Newfoundland? You’ve Never Seen Anything Like This

By Catherine Bush, Globe and Mail
July 20, 2013

“Steer by the inn,” says Captain Ane Emberley, at my shoulder as I take a brief turn at the wheel of his tour boat, the Ketanja. I line up the prow with the Fogo Island Inn. It’s easy to navigate by; its intersecting white rectangles rear from a jut of granite on the treeless shore. The inn, which officially opened on May 15, is like nothing else on this small, rugged outpost off the northeast coast of Newfoundland. Its attention-getting presence signals an attempt to steer the island itself in a different direction. Once fishing culture defined this place. Now visitors arrive, drawn by the lure of a place where old culture meets new. More …