Canada To Improve Healthcare Credential Recognition With $86m Spending

Canada will boost its capacity to recognize the foreign credentials of roughly 6,600 internationally-educated health professionals by investing an extra $86 million into 15 projects across the country.

“Healthcare workers deliver the care that Canadians need. By bringing in new workers and retaining those who are already there, we can help relieve the labour challenges in our healthcare system,” said Health Minister Mark Holland.

“This federal funding supports our government’s work with provinces, territories, and stakeholders to have more healthcare workers enter Canada’s workforce and to streamline that process.”

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The funded projects will:

• reduce barriers to foreign credential recognition for internationally-educated healthcare professionals by improving the recognition processes, simplifying steps in credential recognition and offering increased access to practice in the field;
• provide internationally-educated healthcare professionals with relevant Canadian work experience in their intended fields, while incorporating wrap-around supports such as childcare and transportation costs, as well as mentoring and coaching, and;
• facilitate labour mobility between jurisdictions in Canada for healthcare professionals and internationally-educated healthcare professionals to reduce the systemic and administrative barriers for healthcare professionals who wish to work in other jurisdictions within Canada.

The federal government’s latest financial shot in the arm will provide funding to  key occupations like nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, laboratory technicians and respiratory therapists. Through this investment, internationally trained midwives will be able to take their exams virtually, even before they arrive in Canada.

Jim Lai, president of the Association of Canadian Faculties of Dentistry, is thrilled.

“The Association of Canadian Faculties of Dentistry is thrilled to receive this support from the federal government to fund the development and testing of a new program to speed up the qualification and licensing of dentists trained elsewhere in the world so they can practice in Canada,” said Lai.

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“With the government’s recent introduction of the new Canadian Dental Care Plan, and its policy of increasing immigration into Canada, there are plans to both help Canada’s poorest and most marginalized people gain access to dental care and to integrate internationally-trained dentists into Canada’s healthcare workforce.”

Canada’s Foreign Credential Recognition Program aims to:

• develop and strengthen Canada’s foreign credential assessment and recognition capacity;
• contribute to improving labour market integration outcomes of skilled newcomers, and;
• support interprovincial labour mobility.

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“Honouring the professional credentials of newcomers is a compassionate and effective component of expanding Canada’s workforce,” said Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault.

“The Foreign Credential Recognition Program speeds up the accreditation for 6,600 people and is not only the right thing to do but one of the best ways we can fill labour gaps, strengthen our healthcare system and grow our economy.”

The economic sector continues with the highest levels of job vacancies, the Canadian healthcare system had roughly 90,000 unfilled positions as of the second quarter of 2023.

Faced with that challenge of acute labour shortages, Ottawa announced last year it will invest more than $200 billion over 10 years to improve healthcare for Canadians, including $46.2 billion in new funding for provinces and territories and provided added support to the healthcare workforce.

The latest funding for foreign credential recognition comes in the wake of other investments by Ottawa to support newcomers so they can participate in Canadian society, including the Settlement Program managed by Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).