This House of Commons Standing Committee on Health meeting studied the impact of immigration policy on health care and barriers to integrating internationally trained professionals. Witnesses included the Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society, the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the College of Family Physicians of Canada, the Federation of Medical Regulatory Authorities of Canada, and Internationally Trained Physicians of Canada.
Vanessa Foran and Dr. Giuseppe Fuda of the Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society described a serious anaesthesia workforce shortage, with only about nine physician anaesthesia providers per 100,000 Canadians, well below comparable countries. They recommended establishing a transparent, time-limited process for foreign-trained anesthesiologists, modernizing recency-of-practice rules to reflect immigration realities, and enabling a harmonized process for medical science licensure recognition across all provinces and territories.
Dr. Rani Srivastava of the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing stated that nursing vacancies have tripled over five years and four in 10 nurses intend to leave their job or profession. She recommended streamlining and harmonizing registration processes, pairing that with quality bridging education and workplace integration support, establishing a joint commission between regulators and educators, and exploring international partnerships including Canadian accreditation of international schools.
Dr. Christopher Watling of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada noted that as many as 13,000 internationally trained physicians may be in Canada but not practising. He encouraged developing a federal program to expand practice-ready assessments for both family doctors and specialist physicians, creating a funding pool for medical schools to provide top-up training for physicians missing a handful of competencies, and making Indigenous cultural competency training a requirement for all internationally trained physicians.
Dr. Carrie Bernard of the College of Family Physicians of Canada stated that Canada is almost 23,000 family doctors short and over six million Canadians lack a regular family doctor. She called for expanding the total number of family medicine residency seats with proportional investments in community practices where residents learn, expanding practice-ready assessment programs with federal support, and creating flexible bridging programs to address specific competency gaps.
Stephanie Price of the Federation of Medical Regulatory Authorities of Canada outlined five licensure requirements and identified challenges for internationally trained physicians. She recommended providing clear information about licensure and certification before arrival, offering navigational supports for those already in Canada, aligning language requirements between immigration and regulatory systems, and expanding practice-ready assessment programs with funding for infrastructure and assessors.
Dr. Therese Bichay of Internationally Trained Physicians of Canada shared her personal experience of spending approximately $60,000 and travelling back to Egypt every two to three years to maintain recency of practice while still not holding a Canadian medical licence. She called for a fair and transparent national process leading to licensure, increased spots in both practice-ready assessments and residency programs, and structured transitional clinical roles that meaningfully lead to licensure.
Several witnesses noted that the federal immigration department did not consult their organizations on this year's immigration levels plan. The committee heard that expanding practice-ready assessment programs and top-up training could help integrate internationally trained professionals more quickly, and that funding for such programs would be welcomed.
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