As indoor air quality (IAQ) has been identified as a more and more important issue in our homes, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation had instituted a training program to train individuals/companies who are qualified to come into your home, identify IAQ problems and outline the solutions that you need to undertake. An important part of this new trade is that the investigators do not do the work, so they won't be inventing things that don't need to be done just to get more work. They will give you the solid basis from which you can ask for bids from contractors for the clean-up work. Understand that CMHC has not taken on the liability of "certifying" these people, only giving them a solid training and attesting to the fact that they successfully completed their training. As with any contractor, it remains up to you to check business and client references.
Gord Cook of Air Solutions Inc. in Cambridge, Ontario explained this new trade specialization to us on myTV show in 2004. Gord is a fellow that I have worked with for years and was one of the first of the trained IAQ investigators. The certification courses were budget cut in January 2011, but many of the investigators are still in the field and the last of them are completing their training by August 2011.
The CMHC web site www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca used to have a lot of information on housing for consumers, but with the exception of help for First Nation Housing, their research and information work is gone. They used to even train indoor air quality inspectors and maintain a list of resources. This is obviously one change in government function that I do not support.
Health Canada is now in charge of what government information is available on this subject: www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/air-quality.