McGUINTY GOVERNMENT OPENING DOORS FOR INTERNATIONAL PROFESSIONALS
Helping Newcomers and Health Professionals Succeed in Ontario
TORONTO
— The McGuinty government is breaking down barriers for international
professionals to work in their field of expertise by officially opening a
one-stop resource and recruitment centre, Ontario Citizenship and
Immigration Minister Mike Colle and Ontario Health and Long-Term Care
Minister George Smitherman announced today.
Global
Experience Ontario is a hub of resources and support for newcomers to
navigate through the complex system of licensure and registration in
Ontario. The centre also provides a home to the government’s
HealthForceOntario Strategy to attract and retain health care
professionals to work in Ontario to provide greater access to health care
for patients.
“We’ve
listened to newcomers who have said that one of the major barriers they
face is getting accurate and accessible information about registration
practices in regulated professions,” Colle said. “Global Experience
Ontario is the first centre of its kind in Ontario and a central link to
vital newcomer services across the province.
“We
are thrilled to be partnering with the Ministry of Citizenship and
Immigration to offer a single point of access for information for health
professionals looking for the advantages of working in Ontario and assist
internationally trained health professionals to apply their skills in our
province,” said Smitherman.
Global
Experience Ontario, an Access and Resource Centre for the Internationally
Trained is part of the Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act, 2006. The
first legislation of its kind in Canada, it will require Ontario’s
regulated professions to ensure their licensing process is fair, clear and
open. Global Experience Ontario provides hands-on support services
in-person, by telephone or online, including:
·
Links to education and assessment programs; settlement agencies; and,
internships and mentoring programs;
·
Direction on standards for professional qualifications; licensing and
registration processes; referrals for training; and, alternative
professions that complement skill-sets.
The
facility also houses the HealthForceOntario Recruitment Centre which
showcases Ontario as an employer-of-choice for practice-ready health
professionals through strategic marketing and advertising to target groups
of health professionals, including a campaign to repatriate the estimated
3,000 physicians who are registered to practice in Ontario but who
currently reside out of the province.
Other
elements of the HealthForceOntario strategy include:
·
the creation of the HealthForceOntario Access Centre for Internationally
Educated Health Professionals, which provides internationally
educated health professionals with access to ongoing counselling and
support, and some tools for onsite assessment – the information needed
to be successfully licensed to work in health care in Ontario
·
a comprehensive job website (http://www.HealthForceOntario.ca)
that contains a job registry that already has more than 1,000 postings for
doctors and nurses across Ontario.
Today’s
announcement is a further example of how the McGuinty government is
breaking down barriers for newcomers and continuing the strong growth of
Ontario’s economy. Other initiatives include:
·
Establishing the first provincial Internship for the Internationally
Trained. Administered by Career Bridge, newcomers with a minimum of three
years international work experience will be placed for six-month paid
assignments within the Ontario Public Service and Crown Agencies.
·
Creating a Foreign Trained Professionals Loans program of up to $5,000 per
person to cover assessment, training and exam costs, in partnership with
the Maytree Foundation.
·
Investing more than $34 million in more than 60 bridge training projects
to help thousands of newcomers work in over 100 trades and professions.
These programs create a bridge for newcomers to language training,
licensure and work experience.
·
Investing $20.4 million in education and support that brings doctors,
nurses and other health professionals working together in teams
·
Guaranteeing that every nursing graduate in Ontario is offered a full-time
job in the province
·
Creating four new health care provider roles in areas of high need.
·
Doubling the number of training and assessment positions for
internationally educated medical graduates.
Investing
$130 million annually on programs to help newcomers upgrade their language
skills, settle and find work - more than any other province in Canada
