Ontario’s Doctor Shortage: French-Speaking Physicians Left Behind in Foreign Recruitment Program

– byPrince · 2 min read
Ontario's Doctor Shortage: French-Speaking Physicians Left Behind in Foreign Recruitment Program

Thanks to the Preparation for Medical Practice in Ontario (PRO) program, funded by the Ministry of Health and delivered by the Touchstone Institute, some 28 foreign-trained doctors are practicing in the Canadian province. But the program is only accessible in English. Only one French-speaking doctor, of Moroccan origin, was part of the group.

Originally from Morocco, Salim Benguedda immigrated to Ontario in December 2023. His medical degree was recognized by the province, but he still has to pass two exams and do his residency placement. He was selected for the program because he is bilingual: he speaks French and English. "I set my mind to being an English speaker. I don’t even translate the texts to study for the exams anymore, it takes too long," he confided to Devoir. Out of more than 500 applications submitted to the program since its launch in 2023, only 12 came from a doctor whose first language is French.

The Touchstone Institute claims not to have the resources to carry out this work simultaneously in English and French. The organization is in discussion with the government to offer the PRO program in French by the end of 2026. "We will soon be hiring a French-speaking coordinator to help us Frenchify the program, and we are evaluating our staffing needs," says Wendy Yen, Senior Director of Programs at the Touchstone Institute. The goal of the PRO program is to recruit 100 foreign-trained doctors for the benefit of rural and northern Ontario communities by the end of 2025.

Yet, nearly a quarter of the population of Northeastern Ontario and nearly a sixth of that of Eastern Ontario speak French. For Carole Lafrenière, a member of the board of directors of the Society for Canadians Studying Medicine Abroad (SOCASMA), the program could have been delivered in French from the outset, especially since the French Language Services Act guarantees the right of Franco-Ontarians to receive government services in their language. She denounces this "inequality" in a complaint filed with the provincial ombudsman.

Ontario is facing a labor shortage in the sector. Before the launch of the program, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and the Ontario College of Family Physicians had advocated for accelerating the licensing of foreign-trained doctors. According to SOCASMA, out of the 111 unilingual Francophone candidates who applied for residency in Canada in 2023, only 24 were matched. They were all in Quebec.