Questions and responses 45th Parliament, 1st session May 26, 2025, to present

With regard to information accessed and used by the government for decisions about immigration and credential recognition, and using the most up to date figures available: (a) how long does it take for each licensing body in Canada to provide an answer to an internationally trained professional on whether or not their credentials will be recognized in Canada; (b) for each licensing body, do they offer competency-based testing, multiple choice testing, or another form of testing; (c) for each response in (b), what is the cost of testing, and how much of that cost is borne by the individual seeking to be licensed; (d) what percentage of new immigrants who earned credentials overseas are able to use those credentials in Canada; and (e) what percentage of Canadians born in Canada who earned credentials overseas are able to use those credentials in Canada?

With regard to foreign-trained physicians seeking to practice in Canada and the immigration and credentialing processes affecting their ability to serve patients: (a) how many foreign-trained physicians are currently practicing in Canada on a work permit, broken down by (i) the number working as family physicians, (ii) the number working as specialists, (iii) province or territory of practice; (b) how many foreign-trained physicians have received an invitation to apply for permanent residency under the Express Entry system in each of the past five years; (c) of those in (b), how many (i) did not subsequently submit an application, (ii) had an application closed or deemed incomplete due to missing or delayed documentation, (iii) abandoned an application; (d) what were the primary documentation or administrative issues that led to the abandonment or closure of these cases; (e) how many foreign-trained physicians applied through the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program in each of the past five years; (f) how many had their application closed due to administrative or documentation issues related to navigating provincial or federal processes; (g) what studies have been conducted to explore pathways to reopen such applications; (h) what steps is the federal government taking to address Canada’s physician shortages to ensure that immigration, credentialing, and licensing processes do not prevent qualified physicians from practicing; (i) how many per capita foreign-trained physicians have been attracted to and are practicing in (i) Canada, (ii) Australia, (iii) New Zealand, (iv) the United Kingdom, (v) Ireland, broken down by year from 2018 to 2025; (j) what studies have Health Canada or other federal departments conducted to identify best practices that could improve national coordination with provinces and streamline federal and provincial processes; (k) what actions is the government taking to improve, expand, or fast track the recognition of foreign medical credentials, broken down by (i) pathways for physicians trained outside of Australia, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, (ii) improved recognition of doctors currently practicing in Australia, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States who were originally trained in a third country; (l) what consultations, intergovernmental working groups, or federal provincial initiatives have been undertaken since 2018 to modernize the physician credentialing and immigration system, broken down by (i) objectives, (ii) timelines, (iii) participating federal departments and provincial regulatory bodies, (iv) any recommendations or outcomes to date; (m) how many pieces of correspondence has the federal government received from 2018 to 2025 with recommendations to support changes to the foreign credentialing system, broken down by (i) type or medium of correspondence, (ii) department or agency in receipt, (iii) type of sender (private Canadian, lobby group, national organization, provincial government), (iv) year received, (v) action taken with correspondence; (n) what policy changes, legislative amendments, pilot programs, or administrative reforms are being considered or developed by the government to reduce barriers for foreign-trained doctors seeking permanent residency, improve coordination between Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and credentialing bodies and ensure that Canada’s credentialing and immigration systems support physician recruitment; (o) for the years 2020 to 2025, what is the percentage of foreign-trained doctors that received permanent residency vs total permanent residency immigration to Canada; and (p) broken down for each of the years 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, what is the estimated percentage of all qualified doctors per Canadian population?

With regard to permanent residency for internationally trained physicians since 2015, and broken down by year: (a) how many internationally trained physicians (i) applied for, (ii) were granted, permanent residency in Canada, broken down by immigration stream; (b) does the government, including all health-related agencies, track how many internationally trained physicians who obtain permanent residency become licensed to practise medicine by a medical regulatory authority; and (c) if the answer to (b) is affirmative, how many of the internationally trained physicians granted permanent residency in (a)(ii) have become licensed to practise medicine in Canada by a medical regulatory authority?

With regard to the government’s reciprocal arrangements under section 89 of the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 and the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers: (a) how many Canadian endorsements have been issued to foreign seafarers under these arrangements since January 1, 2019, broken down by year and country; (b) how many Canadian seafarers is the government aware of that have had their certificates recognized abroad under these arrangements, broken down by year and country; (c) what is the current number of foreign seafarers working in Canada under these endorsements, in total, and broken down by vessel type and employer class; (d) what compliance audits or reviews have been conducted by Transport Canada to verify reciprocity since 2019; and (e) since 2019, how many random spot checks did Transport Canada complete to verify knowledge and language proficiency of certificate holders provided by endorsements to work in Canada under the reciprocal agreements, broken down by year, month and location?