Ontario Commits New Funding for Foreign-Trained Nurses

In recent years, the Canadian healthcare system has experienced a shortage of nurses, as many experienced professionals retire. To ensure fair treatment and to ease the burden on the healthcare system, the Government of Ontario is taking steps to help foreign-trained nurses work in Ontario.

In the recent announcement by Ontario’s Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Mike Colle, nearly $3 million was earmarked for programs that will smooth the entry of foreign-trained nurses into the province’s healthcare system. The new funding is targeted at the various steps that must be completed in order to practice nursing in Ontario. Nurses will receive increased support for their licensing exam, their language training, and with acquiring work experience.

Much of the funding will support the work of the Centre for Internationally Educated Nurses, which has a record of success with bridging programs. The centre provides such services as exam preparation classes, individual tutoring and career counselling, and clinical workplace placements in hospital and health agencies throughout the province. With new funding for partnerships with local colleges, universities and hospitals, the agency will be expanding its successful programs throughout the province.

Foreign-trained healthcare professionals is a group that includes people who have immigrated to Canada as well as Canadian citizens who have gone elsewhere for their medical education. In the past year, the Province of Ontario has taken major steps towards overcoming the barriers facing foreign-trained professionals trying to work in their fields. The Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act, which became law in March of this year, includes provisions for transparency, accountability and equal treatment by the organizations which regulate practice of certain professions in the province, including engineering and medicine.