FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

With 6.5 million Canadians without a family doctor, ICC report finds only 41 per cent of internationally trained physicians and 37 per cent of internationally trained nurses work in their fields, and proposes a federal Fair Licensing Act to break the impasse

OTTAWA (ON) — Immigrant doctors driving taxis is a cliché, and a costly one. A new report from the Institute for Canadian Citizenship (ICC), Ready to Contribute: How a Fair Licensing Act Can Put Immigrants’ Talents to Full Use for Canada, proposes a timely, novel approach to ending the pervasive foreign qualification recognition (FQR) barriers that keep hundreds of thousands of qualified immigrants from practicing their professions, costing Canada as much as $50 billion in lost economic potential every year, in addition to pain and suffering from needlessly long healthcare wait times.

The report shows that roughly 640,000 degree-holding immigrants, almost 26 per cent, are overqualified for their current jobs. That is more than double the 11 per cent rate among their Canadian-born counterparts. Closing the overqualification gap could add roughly 16,000 doctors and 27,000 nurses and related professionals to Canada’s ailing healthcare system, without growing the population.

“Keeping qualified immigrant talent on the sidelines while Emergency Departments routinely close due to staffing shortages is an epic triumph of self-defeat,” said Daniel Bernhard, CEO of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship. “Despite knowing about this problem for at least 66 years, the immigrant overqualification problem is only getting worse. It’s past time for a brand-new approach designed to succeed where past efforts have failed. Hand-picking immigrants because we need their skills and then refusing to put those skills to use is not just an act of bad faith—it’s an act of bad leadership that hurts all Canadians.”

Key Findings

• Nearly 640,000 immigrant degree-holders are overqualified, a figure that would fall to about 270,000 if immigrants were overqualified at the same rate as the Canadian-born.
• Only 41 per cent of internationally trained physicians and 37 per cent of internationally trained nurses work in their fields, while 6.5 million Canadians lack a family doctor.
• Closing the overqualification gap could add roughly 16,000 doctors and 27,000 nurses and related professionals to Canada’s workforce.
• FQR and related employment barriers cost Canada up to $50 billion annually and weigh down its already weak labour productivity.
• FQR discrimination has been well-known since at least 1966, yet overqualification has risen, not fallen, despite decades of advocacy efforts.

The report traces the problem to a fragmented system of roughly 500 self-governing licensing bodies, many of which apply discriminatory practices against immigrants with provinces’ tacit permission. The most notable is the “Canadian work experience” requirement that mandates Canadian experience as a condition of licensure but also requires candidates to have a license to gain Canadian experience. This catch-22, deemed discriminatory by the Ontario Human Rights Commission in 2013, is still common. Past reforms have relied on voluntary cooperation and patchy enforcement, leaving the underlying problem intact.

The report calls for a federal Fair Licensing Act, modelled on the Canada Health Act, to drive change across all professions and provinces at once. It recommends:

• A Fair Licensing Act that rewards provinces removing barriers and withholds funds from those that do not.
• An accompanying Canada Fair Licensing Transfer tied to measurable performance indicators.
• Additional levers, such as Provincial Nominee Program allocations, to reinforce compliance.
• A dedicated Division within Employment and Social Development Canada producing an annual report to Parliament.
• A Fair Licensing Act Secretariat within the Forum of Labour Market Ministers to coordinate federal-provincial cooperation.

“The Canada Health Act shows the federal government can set national standards on matters of provincial jurisdiction and reward those who meet them. A Fair Licensing Act could do the same for licensing, in every profession and every province at once,” added Bernhard. “Canada doesn’t need marginal improvements. We need a big change across the board, to put immigrant talent to work addressing the needs they were brought here to address.”

Read the full report at https://forcitizenship.ca/ready_to_contribute_en/

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Quotes from immigration sector leaders

“This timely report does an excellent job of outlining the problem facing skilled immigrants who seek Canadian accreditation and the need for a solution.” – Claudia Hepburn, CEO, Windmill Microlending

About the Institute for Canadian Citizenship

The Institute for Canadian Citizenship (ICC) is a national charity that works for a Canada where immigrants don’t just come, but stay, become citizens, succeed, and make Canada stronger, richer, and more interesting.

The ICC’s Canoo app gives newcomers and their families free access to Canada’s most sought-after experiences as well as the tools they need to help call Canada home. Since 2010, Canoo has welcomed over 990,000 newcomer members. All recent permanent residents and new citizens can join Canoo for free by downloading the app. For more about the app and the growing list of benefits for Canoo members, please visit https://canoo.ca/.

Media Contacts

ICC / Canoo: media@forcitizenship.ca