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While more than 6 million Canadians live without a family doctor, the government of Canada is finally making strides to increase the number of physicians in Canada. On Monday, December 8, Ottawa announced a new “express entry” category for foreign-trained physicians in an effort to address health workforce challenges in Canada. Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Lena Metlege Diab said in a press conference, “We've seen the strain in our emergency rooms, we hear it from families waiting for a doctor, and we feel it from the front-line staff who are stretched thin,”
“We've heard a clear message from patients, provinces and the medical community, we need more hands on deck,”
The new measures target internationally trained doctors with at least one year of Canadian work experience gained within the last three years, meaning only doctors who have already passed their Canadian equivalency exams will be able to benefit from this new program. a press release from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said “We're giving these doctors a clear pathway to permanent residence in Canada to fill critical health workforce gaps, while helping support reliable care and a stable health system for Canadians,” Per a 2025 CBC investigation, there are currently an estimated 5,000 foreign-trained doctors in Canada, the vast majority of which are not practicing medicine in Canada due to restrictions on internationally trained physicians (ITPs). According to CMA president Dr. Margot Burnell, there are actually “more than 13,000 internationally trained physicians in Canada not working in their field.”
Holes in healthcare
According to a 2025 investigation from Dr. Tara Kiran along with the Canadian Medical Association, there are currently 5.9 million Canadians who do not have a primary care physician (family doctor), CMA president Dr. Burnell state in the report, “These findings confirm what physicians and patients across Canada are experiencing daily,” Dr. Burnell mentioned how in 2022, there were 6.5 million Canadians without a primary care physician, and, “while we've made progress, too many Canadians still face unacceptable barriers to primary care. We can do better. We know the solutions. Access to care for all Canadians is a realistic and achievable goal now.”
While the number of Canadians without a primary care physician has dropped from 6.5 million to 5.9 million since 2022, 5.9 million people still represent almost 15 per cent of the country, meaning 3 in every 20 Canadians don't have a family doctor. While Northern communities struggle with finding full-time physicians to move to remote areas of the country, populated areas of the country are also experiencing a shortage in medical staff. Reportedly, only two-thirds of qualified physicians in British Columbia are practicing medicine, leading to some of the longest ER wait times in the country – even in highly populated areas like Victoria, BC (population of 91,000). It's estimated that almost 30 per cent of BC residents do not have a primary care physician – a total of nearly 700,000 Canadians. Another example is the border city of Sarnia, Ontario, with a population of almost 80,000, of which approximately 10,000 lack a primary care physician.
We want B.C. to be a place where health care is always there for you, which is why we're taking action to hire more family doctors and health professionals than ever before, We're starting to see some good results, but there's a lot more we need to do. We can't afford to slash health-care budgets when we need to be hiring even more doctors and nurses so B.C. families get the care they need when they need it.
-BC Premier David Eby.
Health care experts stress that this program is a step in the right direction, but the program will not fix all of Canada's healthcare problems, with Maggie Chi, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health stating: “Attracting skilled health professionals is essential to addressing Canada's health workforce shortages. Increasing the number of qualified physicians with the expertise our health care system needs will ensure people across the country receive timely, high-quality care. By working closely with provinces and territories, we are tackling workforce challenges and strengthening the health care system so Canadians receive the care they need, when they need it.”
