From Public Media Sources

• Fighting the system
  A fully-qualified German cardiologist is unable to establish a practice in BC.  "The College of Physicians and Surgeons won't give him a licence until he has a written job offer. Regional health authorities won't offer him a job until he has a licence."


• Blockages for immigrant doctors need surgery
  "At best, the system wastes several years of a doctors' life and countless thousands of dollars...At worst...hundreds upon hundreds of doctors will spend the rest of their working lives in much lower-skilled jobs."


• Foreign-trained docs giving up hope
  "It's confusing...They need doctors, and yet they're not letting doctors through the system."


• Licence to cure is a long time coming
  Jocelyn Dumatol-Sanchez trained as a family doctor in the Philippines and now works in an emergency room in northern Manitoba. But it took her nearly eight years to get accredited to practise medicine in Canada.


• Matching by CaRMS: A Dog and Pony Process?
  And other articles from the International Medical Association (Ontario).


• Doctors in Waiting
  He's Dr. Ruani only back in his native Pakistan. Here at work in this apartment block in Kingston, Ontario he's plain old David Ruani, janitor.


• Frequently Asked Questions
  A physician now practising in the US offers information and advice to prospective Canadian IMG's - "...so they won't experience what I did."


• Save your time, work in the USA
  A detailed look at your options in Canada, and what others have done.


• Severe doctors' shortage predicted in Canada (published 2000)
  Canada ideally needs 2,500 new graduates a year but even if medical schools could increase enrolment to that figure immediately, it would be years before those doctors are practising.


• In a Foreign Land
  Doctors from other countries are turning to odd jobs as they struggle to meet the varying standards and training required to practise in Canada.


• The 'greedy doctors' myth
  After spending a decade in university, going $100,000 in debt and taking on life-or-death responsibility, doctors are wondering why they make the same salary as auto plant workers.


• Student follows dream to U.S.
  The fierce competition for admission to Ontario's medical schools.


• How bad is the brain drain?
  The Canadian Medical Association looks at why Canadian doctors are heading south for work.


• Foreign trained doctors drive taxi cabs for a living in Canada
  More than 4.5 million Canadians had trouble finding a family physician in the past 12 months, says a new poll. Yet Canada is filled with foreign-trained doctors who can't practise.


• You can't always come home
  Going overseas for a degree makes it hard to return.


• Restrictions exist in every province for International Medical Graduates>
  The Canadian Resident Matching Service cautions prospective applicants.


• Canada's Brain Drain
  Question: What does the United States have that Canada doesn't?
  Answer: Thousands of Canada's most talented young minds.


• Armed with degrees, they drive our cabs
  Thousands of professionals have been lured to Canadian cities like London with promises of lucrative careers and a prosperous, secure future in a new land. Once they get here, the reality is sobering. And dream-shattering.


• Disillusioned doctors take some class action
  The first foreign-doctors' class-action complaint has been filed with the Ontario Human Rights Commission (June 2004).


• Why Is Canada Shutting Out Doctors?
  While millions of Canadians can’t find a doctor, thousands of foreign physicians can’t get a licence to practise. The experiences of several immigrant doctors are described here.

From Canadian Government and Regulatory Bodies

• Government provides $4 million to assist licensing of international medical graduates. From Health Canada, March 2004


• Comments by the Honourable Hedy Fry, parliamentary secretary responsible for foreign credential recognition, on the government's $4 million contribution.


• The Government of Canada has been working to develop a national approach to facilitate the licensing of IMGs. Health Canada, March 2004


• A survey of accumulating evidence on the challenges currently limiting the effectiveness of the federal government's policies regarding IMG's. Health Policy Research Bulletin, July 2004.


• Licence requirements for international medical graduates: Should national standards be adopted?  Canadian Medical Association Journal, 2000.


• Program for licensure for international medical graduates in British Columbia: 7 years' experience. Canadian Medical Association Journal, March 2000.


• Study: Immigrants in Canada's urban centres
  "Immigrants also have higher levels of educational attainment than people born in Canada. Yet, in virtually every urban region, a far higher proportion of recent immigrants were employed in jobs with lower skill requirements than the Canadian-born." Statistics Canada, August 2004.