Why join the Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors (CIPHI)?
As the only national association that speaks for environmental public health professionals in Canada, CIPHI is integral to advancing public health by covering the continuum of:
- Environmental health
- Food safety
- Drinking water quality
- On-site wastewater disposal
- Indoor and outdoor air quality
- Epidemiology
- Tobacco reduction
- Health in the built environment
… and many more environmental health initiatives.
According to our mandate to carry out certification, professional development, and advocacy, CIPHI and its membership continually work to protect the health of all Canadians, advance the science of environmental health, and enhance the field of public health inspection.
Certification
Our Board of Certification administers and grants the Certificate in Public Health Inspection (Canada), or CPHI(C), guaranteeing the highest standards for entry into the profession.
Professional Development
Working closely with the international environmental health community, CIPHI furthers the study of environmental health and supports professional development.
Advocacy
CIPHI works to protect the health of all Canadians while promoting the science of environmental health and the environmental public health profession.
What does membership include?
As a CIPHI member, you’ll join other environmental public health professionals across Canada in accessing:
Voting Privileges
Regular, Retired, and Life Members may vote on all matters presented to the membership. They can participate in the Annual General Meeting (either in person or by proxy) to provide input on organizational matters, such as changes to the CIPHI Constitution and aspects of membership.
Playing a key role in shaping CIPHI allows you to share your knowledge, expertise, and experience.
Right to hold office
Opportunities are available for qualified Regular, Retired, and Life Members to take on roles within the organization. This is an excellent chance to get involved in the day-to-day governance and operation of your profession. As you learn about business management in the not-for-profit sector—including conference planning, development, and delivery—you can help shape the future of environmental public health by strategically directing CIPHI.
Awards
Receiving an awards nomination from your peer group is most rewarding! Any CIPHI member is eligible to nominate individuals or organizations for CIPHI-sponsored national awards, which are presented annually during our National Annual Educational Conference.
Professional development tools
CIPHI’s Member Service Centre provides tools to track professional development hours (PDHs), create your member profile, access self-assessment tools, connect with others, and renew your annual membership.1
Corporate and Non-Profit Organization Benefits
The following benefits are available upon request to Corporate and Non-Profit Organization Affiliate Members:
- Access to national and approved MailChimp email blasts: your email will be added to the CIPHI distribution list, allowing you receive CIPHI messages and to send messages through the MailChimp moderators.
- Public access to the CIPHI Member Service Centre.
- Acknowledgment on the Member Service Centre.
- Posting of your organizational link on our website and/or the Member Service Centre.
- Provided copies of the Environmental Health Review (available in paper or electronic format).
- Recognition as an Affiliate Member in the Environmental Health Review.
- Preferred advertising rates in the Environmental Health Review, including the opportunity to place an annual full-page product profile at no additional cost.
- Preferred pricing at booth locations during our Annual Educational Conferences.
Environmental public health resources
A free subscription to the Environmental Health Review, CIPHI’s official professional publication, provides you an excellent environmental health resource. In addition, many branches also provide members with a professional newsletter filled with pertinent information to help keep you up to date on environmental health activities in your region.
Ready to join?
CIPHI offers a number of different membership types as outlined below. Please review the membership types as they have undergone changes effective starting in the 2025 membership year.
Regular membership
To qualify for regular membership, you must hold the Certificate in Public Health Inspection (Canada) and actively participate in the continuing professional competency program of the Council of Professional Experience.
Regular members shall have full voting rights and the right to hold office.
Student membership
To qualify for student membership you must be actively enrolled at a school accredited by the Board of Certification (BOC) of Public Health Inspectors or graduated from a school accredited by the BOC and actively preparing for the CPHI (C) exam.
Student members have neither voting rights nor the right to hold office.
Retired membership
To qualify as a retired member you must currently be retired from employment as a Certified Public Health Inspector and have been a Regular member at the time you retired. For the purposes of this provision “employment as a Certified Public Health Inspector” refers to working in a position whether fulltime, part time, casual or contractual where the employer or contractor requires you to hold an unsuspended CPHI ( C ) in order to qualify for the position.
Retired members have full voting rights and the right to hold office.
Honorary membership
If you do not hold qualifications as an environmental public health professional but have made a noteworthy contribution to the science of sanitation, as a mark of distinction you may receive honorary membership by majority vote at an Annual General Meeting. You will not be entered upon the Register of Members and will not be responsible for the debts and liabilities of the institute, and you shall remain an honorary member at the pleasure of the institute.
Honorary members pay no fees, have no voting privileges nor have the right to hold office.
Life membership
If you are a qualified environmental public health professional and CIPHI member who has made a noteworthy contribution to the advancement of sanitary science and/or the purposes of the institute, you may receive life membership by vote at the Annual General Meeting. Life membership may be granted to persons who are still practicing.
Life members have voting privileges and the right to hold office, but no obligation to pay fees.
Affiliate membership
Non profit organizations and individuals may be eligible for affiliate membership if they share a common interest in the field of environmental health and wish to work toward a unified voice on issues of common interest.
Corporate members are persons or corporations who derive benefits of information, education, and self-promotion through CIPHI membership. Membership is at the pleasure of the institute.
Affiliate members have neither voting rights nor the right to hold office.
To become an affiliate member, complete the Affiliate Membership Application Form.
To apply for Regular, Retired and Student membership you will need to submit a Membership Application Form. Please complete the application, indicating the appropriate membership category, and submit it back along with payment via mail, fax, or email. For membership prices (which vary from one provincial branch to another), see the membership form.
For Affiliate Corporate, Non-Profit or Individual membership, you will need to submit an Affiliate Membership Application Form. Please complete the application, indicating the appropriate membership category, and submit it back along with payment via mail, fax, or email. Please note that effective 2025 all membership categories including Affiliate annual memberships are based on a calendar year January 1st to December 31st
The CIPHI membership year starts January 1st and ends December 31st.
The last day of a membership year you can submit a membership application for that year to the CIPHI Office is December 1st in order to ensure it is processed by December 31st of that same year. You may not apply retroactively for membership in a year that has ended.
To notify CIPHI of a change of address, please contact the CIPHI Office at office@ciphi.ca.
If you are unsure of what membership you should apply for, please contact CIPHI at 1.888.245.8180 or office@ciphi.ca.
Members Service Centre (MSC)
This portal is your online resource for:
- Storing and maintaining your career and contact information
- Registering and paying for membership renewal and conferences
- Participating in the Continuing Professional Competencies (CPC) program
- Logging your professional development hours (PDHs)
National Salary Survey
Thanks to the work of the Retirees Advisory Committee (RAC), CIPHI is pleased to present the 2023 edition of the national salary survey. We appreciate the information provided by those who participated in the survey. CIPHI plans to conduct a full survey every three years. In the interim the RAC will update and post the survey as new contracts are ratified. For details of any specific collective agreement,
please contact the branch president for that province or territory.
CIPHI’s National News ListServe
Subscribe to CIPHI’s National News ListServe to share information about public health, and to receive timely and informative updates from CIPHI and your peers, all delivered via email. CIPHI welcomes submissions from all users regarding the following topics:
- Environmental public health advocacy
- News pertaining to CIPHI and other public health agencies and associations
- Promotion of environmental public health events or services
Fostering linkages within the health community
With a focus on understanding health risks associated with the physical environment and identifying evidence-based interventions to mitigate those risks, NCCEH is an indispensable online resource for environmental health practitioners and policy-makers across Canada.