• General subjects include topics such as business management, the civil code, accounting, economics, finance, financial and tax planning, estates, etc.
• Standards compliance, ethics and professional practice include training related to rules of conduct, regulatory obligations, evolution of professional standards, etc.
• Specific subjects vary depending on the representative’s area of practice: insurance of persons, group insurance, group savings plans, student scholarship plans, etc. Each discipline has its own requirements.

Types of training recognized

Synchronous training

Training presented live, including conferences, conventions, symposiums and seminars, as well as classroom training, virtual classes or live videoconferences and webinars.

Asynchronous training

Training presented offline, including pre-recorded conferences or webinars, interactive online self-training (e-learning), or in the form of podcasts, videos, documents, etc.

• To be recognized, all training must last at least one hour. Splitting a PDU is not permitted. If the duration of the training results in a PDU calculation that is not a whole number, it must be rounded down to the nearest whole number. Time spent on meals and breaks cannot be included in the total duration.
• A unit of training may only be counted as a PDU once per training cycle.

Criteria for analyzing and recognizing training

The following factors are analyzed to determine whether the training meets the criteria for recognition:

• Description, educational framework and subjects covered
• Link between the advisor’s activities and the eligible subjects
• Link with the development of professional knowledge, competencies and skills
• Link between the subjects and the objectives set out in the training plan
• Sequence and duration
• Control measures or evaluation method

Although the Chambre does not guarantee the content, it does ensure compliance with the criteria as part of its analysis. Note that the Chambre can carry out a more in-depth content analysis if it considers this necessary to recognize a course.

Training that focuses solely on selling or promoting a product, attendance at a cocktail reception, meeting or gathering, or participation on a board of directors, in a task force or in a study group, cannot be recognized.

• If the training includes a component devoted to selling or promoting a product, you are required to specify the duration of this component in your request for recognition. This part will be deducted from the total duration, thereby reducing the portion of training eligible for calculating PDUs.

Applicable fees

For your request to be analyzed, you must pay the fee.

The Règlement sur les frais exigibles de la Chambre de la sécurité financière (French only) sets out the applicable fees. These fees must be paid as soon as the request is submitted via the Training Partner Area. For a request submitted via email, fees must be paid before the Chambre announces its decision on whether or not to recognize the training.

The regulation stipulates that following analysis, there is no refund if your training is not recognized.

Applicable fees for recognition of training

Please refer to the Tableau des frais exigibles (fee schedule) for detailed information on the applicable amounts, based on the type of activity, the duration of the training and the delivery methods. This fee schedule will help you estimate the total cost related to your request for recognition.

Note: Prices do not include taxes. These will be calculated based on the rates in the province where the provider’s headquarters are located.

Analysis of the request and decision deadline

The Chambre will take reasonable steps to reach a decision on whether or not to accept your request for recognition within 15 days after receiving it. However, due to certain administrative constraints or the complexity of certain requests, this deadline may be extended to as long as 25 days. Any additional information required by the Chambre to process a request may also result in additional delays.

Once it has completed its analysis, the Chambre will inform you of its decision via the Training Partner Area or by email, depending on the case.

In the case of a successful request, the Chambre will provide you with:

• The recognition number assigned to your training
• The number of PDUs granted per subject
• The period for which recognition is valid

For an application that is refused, grants fewer PDUs than requested, or grants them in a different subject, you will have 15 days from being notified of the decision to submit your comments and ask for a reconsideration of your request.

After reconsideration, the Chambre may uphold or change its decision. This decision becomes final.

Modifying a course or changing the trainer

You must notify the Chambre as soon as you make any change to a recognized training program or the trainers authorized to provide it. Only the trainers listed in the request may deliver the training.

A fee may be charged for a new analysis if the change concerns the sequence, duration, number of PDUs or subjects.

Following its analysis, the Chambre may:

• Maintain or cancel recognition of the training.
• Increase or decrease the number of PDUs previously granted.
• Change the subject(s) recognized.

The same procedures as described above will apply for analyzing the request, as well as the deadlines for decision and refusal.

Period of validity

Recognition of your training by the Chambre ends as soon as its period of validity expires.

• If you fail to comply with the obligations and commitments set out in the Regulation, the Chambre reserves the right to withdraw recognition of your training, in whole or in part, at any time.
• At the end of the validity period, or upon withdrawal or suspension of training recognition by the Chambre, you must cease all advertising or representation claiming that your training is recognized and qualifies for PDUs.

Multi-session training

If your training is to be delivered more than once, recognition will be valid for a period of 24 months from the date of the first delivery indicated in your request for recognition approved by the Chambre.

To extend the validity period of the recognition, you must submit a request for renewal at least 15 days before the end of the current validity period. You cannot provide certificates or attendance lists until you have received confirmation that your recognition has been renewed.

You must inform participants of the end date of recognition for asynchronous training, so that they can take the course before that date.

One-off training

If your request concerns training that is to be delivered only once, recognition will be valid only during the event in which the training takes place.

Control measures

You are responsible for confirming attendance or successful completion, and for ensuring that control measures adapted to the resources and technological means at your disposal are put in place and adhered to in order to confirm participants’ attendance or successful completion. These two options apply to all types of training.

Confirming success

Your training must include evaluation questions or activities that meet certain criteria:

• They are used to determine whether the participant has assimilated the knowledge or skills covered by the training.
• They are varied and sufficiently difficult to establish that the participant has completed the entire training program.
• Compilation of their results must cover the recognized part and exclude the parts that involve selling or promoting a product or service.
• The passing grade must be set at a minimum of 60%.

Training that lasts one hour must include a minimum of six questions or evaluation activities. Training that lasts longer than one hour must include two additional questions or evaluation activities for each additional hour.

For example, a training session lasting three hours must contain at least 10 evaluation questions or activities.

Confirming attendance

The trainer, or any other person you designate, must be able to verify the presence of members for the entire duration of the training course.

You may also use the technologies at your disposal to confirm attendance, as long as they allow for reliable and continuous confirmation.

Within 30 days after the training is provided, you are responsible for making available to members of the Chambre the certificate of completion or attendance for which the conditions have been fulfilled.

In addition, you can send an attendance or successful completion list to fichier@chambresf.com using this file, which automatically enters PDUs in the file for each member. There is a fee for processing these lists. This does not exempt you from your obligation to make the certificates available to members of the Chambre. 

Satisfaction survey and compliance

The Chambre reserves the right to survey participating members to determine their overall satisfaction with the courses it recognizes, and to ask for their comments.

This survey is aimed in particular at determining if:

• Training objectives have been achieved.
• Knowledge has been acquired and is applicable in the workplace.
• Expectations of participants have been fulfilled.
• Training complies with the request for recognition submitted.
• The trainer has the skills and knowledge required.
• The control measures in place are valid and have been adhered to.

When analysis of a survey reveals a problem with a recognized training program or a trainer you have appointed, the Chambre may ask you to correct the situation or take the steps needed to ensure that it does not happen again.

In particular, the Chambre determines if:

• The subject matches the initial request.
• The duration matches the recognition granted.
• The subject matches the recognition granted.
• Control measures are valid and adhered to.
• The structure allows for effective learning.
• The trainer is competent.

The provider agrees not to modify the PDU symbol and to use it only for training that is duly recognized. The provider also agrees not to harm the image of the Chambre.

To promote a course that you offer, you may not engage in or allow false or misleading advertising, or advertising that is likely to deceive anyone. For example, you may not claim that your content has been validated and approved by the Chambre.

Conversely, you can indicate that you hold recognition for your training if you have received written confirmation from the Chambre, also mentioning your right to use the PDU symbol, until the end of the validity period.

The files of the PDU logo can be downloaded directly from the Training Partner Area.