2003:03 Helping Foreign-Trained Health Care Professionals Access Accreditation
Whereas:
- There is, at present in Canada, a significant shortage of health care professionals such as nurses and doctors; and
- Although qualified foreign-trained professionals could provide a partial answer to this shortage, they face a lack of recognition of their credentials; and
- In order to ensure a level of competence for health care professionals across Canada, standard tests for accreditation have been set up, but fees for these qualifying exams are high; and
- Foreign-trained professionals are often not able to afford the fees required to qualify and find it difficult to obtain Canadian experience in their field;
Resolved:
- That the National Council of Women of Canada adopt as its policy that the process of accreditation of health care professionals trained in other countries be made more accessible to those professionals, while ensuring that a uniform standard of competence is maintained across Canada; and be it further
- That the National Council of Women of Canada urge the Government of Canada to work with the provincial governments, professional organizations, and licensing bodies to make accreditation more accessible for foreign-trained professionals, while ensuring that a uniform standard of competence is maintained across Canada by:
a. Ensuring loans and other resources are available for qualifying examinations and upgrading;
b. Developing academic assessment tools and testing;
c. Ensuring re-testing is accessible and affordable;
d. Increasing the opportunities for foreign-trained professionals to acquire more Canadian experience under supervision; and
e. Accelerating the accreditation and retraining process through English and French language training, including long-term and/or immersion language training where necessary.