ontario forging ahead with new medical residency law for international graduates
2 minute read
in addition to students who attended at least two years of high school in ontario, the new legislation would give priority to those who attended an ontario university full-time for at least two years as well as international medical graduates who lived in ontario continuously for at least 24 weeks prior to applying for a residency program.
tony caldwell
/
postmedia
just days after it rescinded a previous policy, the ontario government says it will introduce new legislation to prioritize international medical grads from ontario for medical residencies.
in the fall of 2025, the ontario government quietly introduced a policy that required international medical graduates to have attended two years of high school in the province to qualify for the first round of applying for residency positions. residency training is required for most international medical graduates to work in the province.
after a legal challenge, a court granted a temporary injunction on the policy and it was later rescinded by the ontario government, something numerous medical organizations had called for. the canadian medical association said the abruptly introduced policy had the potential to destabilize family medicine programs in ontario at a time when family physicians were badly needed.
the province now says it plans to introduce similar legislation to give priority to ontario residents who travel overseas for medical school, saying that will improve retention of doctors. the proposed legislation would broaden the definition of eligible ontario residents, though, which should allow more international medical graduates to qualify than the previous policy would have. in addition to students who attended at least two years of high school in ontario, the new legislation would give priority to those who attended an ontario university full-time for at least two years as well as international medical graduates who lived in ontario continuously for at least 24 weeks prior to applying for a residency program. they would all be eligible to apply for highly competitive residency positions in the first round.
in a release, the government said the proposed legislation aligned with what some other provinces did and would help ensure ontario students who studied outside of the province had better chances to practise medicine at home.
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“we know that doctors are more likely to stay and practise in the communities where they train, and that’s why we are making it easier for ontario students who studied medicine abroad to return home, complete their training and have a career as a doctor in ontario,” said ema popovich, a spokesperson for minister of health sylvia jones.
the number of ontario residents studying medicine overseas has increased steadily in recent years. often the path to practice in the province has been difficult.
critics called the previous policy arbitrary and discriminatory, saying it could worsen ontario’s doctor shortage and prevent highly trained foreign physicians from relocating to ontario.
the new legislation continues to put up barriers to many international medical graduates.
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