Health

Here is a summary of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health (HESA) meeting on October 30, 2025, which studied the impact of immigration policy on health care and barriers to integrating internationally trained professionals. The witnesses were Dr. Pantea Barati (individual), Valerie Grdisa (Canadian Nurses Association), Andrew Padmos (American Canadian School of Medicine), and Dr. Sandra Rao (individual).

Dr. Pantea Barati, a Canadian physician who moved to the U.K. to practise, testified that Canada’s immigration system actively recruits doctors but then bars them from practising due to limited residency spots for international medical graduates (IMGs), with provinces capping IMG participation at roughly 10% of positions. She stated that many qualified IMGs leave for countries like the U.K., Australia, and the U.S., where integration pathways are clearer, and she recommended aligning immigration targets with workforce planning and removing arbitrary barriers to create a fairer system.

Valerie Grdisa, CEO of the Canadian Nurses Association, noted that internationally educated nurses (IENs) face slow, inconsistent, and costly credential recognition, and that many remain underemployed or lose skills due to delays. She recommended that the federal government convene a national IEN task force to align immigration policy, ethical recruitment, and workforce planning, and advocated for a pan-Canadian framework for harmonized nursing regulation to improve labour mobility and accountability for taxpayer dollars.

Andrew Padmos, executive vice-president of the American Canadian School of Medicine, explained that visa trainees, such as those from Saudi Arabia, fill extra residency positions funded by foreign governments and do not take spots from Canadian graduates. He argued that Canada needs more medical schools and that the problem for Canadians studying abroad is a lack of clinical clerkship positions in Canada, which leads them to pursue residencies in the U.S., and he disagreed with the notion that visa trainee positions could simply be reallocated.

Dr. Sandra Rao, an emergency physician, testified that unprecedented population growth from international migration has increased emergency department volumes and wait times without proportional expansion of health care infrastructure or physician supply. She noted that refugee claimant visits at her centre have increased by 490% since 2021 and that the interim federal health program lacks strict billing limits, recommending stronger oversight and that immigration levels be tied to health care capacity.

The meeting concluded with a procedural debate over a motion regarding the clerk’s witness list and a request for digital binders, but no vote was taken before the meeting was adjourned.