BC Government Using Legislation to Remove Employment Barriers

 

https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2023PSFS0060-001634

The international credentials recognition act, if passed, will require 18 regulators overseeing 29 professions to streamline processes for internationally trained applicants. The 29 occupations are:

registered music teacher
professional engineer
professional teaching certificate holder
land surveyor
early childhood educator
landscape architect
early childhood educator assistant
applied science technologist
conditional teaching certificate holder
certified technician
social worker
veterinarian
registered clinical social worker
lawyer
professional biologist
architect
applied biology technician
notary public
registered biology technologist
emergency medical assistant, including paramedics
professional geoscientist
chartered professional accountant
registered professional forester
associate real estate broker
registered forest technologist
managing real estate broker
professional agrologist
real estate representative
technical agrologist

Improving credential recognition for internationally educated health professionals

This legislation complements and builds on the government’s ongoing work to create pathways for doctors, nurses and other health-care professionals educated outside of Canada to be able to get to work more quickly.

This work includes:

• Expanding pathways for internationally trained physicians to enter B.C.’s workforce, including:
  • a further expansion of seats in the Practice Ready Program, which helps internationally educated doctors get to work more quickly in B.C.; the program will triple from 32 seats to 96 seats by March 2024;
  • the introduction of a new U.S.-certified class of licensure (through the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC) to enable eligible U.S.-trained physicians to practise pediatric medicine, internal medicine or emergency medicine in B.C.;
  • the introduction of associate physicians, a new class of registration that provides a route for international medical graduates (IMGs) not eligible for licensure as independent medical practitioners, to work under the direction and supervision of an attending physician within team-based care settings; and
  • Funding Health Match BC, a free health-professional recruitment service that has helped IMGs and Canadian-trained physicians relocate and practise in B.C.
• Removing roadblocks that internationally educated nurses (IENs) used to face, including:
  • developing a more efficient pathway that simultaneously assesses IENs for the HCA, LPN, and RN designations;
  • directly covering application and assessment fees with NCCAS and BCCNM and providing bursaries for English-language competency testing and education with more than $9 million in funding; and
  • creating new nurse-navigator positions to help IENs navigate the assessment and licensing process.
• Developing the Health Care Access Program (HCAP) to train, recruit and employ up to 3,000 entry-level health-care workers each year.
  • This program provides a path for eligible applicants, including internationally educated nurses who have not had their qualifications recognized, and individuals with no health-sector experience, to get hired and receive paid employer-sponsored health-care assistant training as part of their employment.
• Bursaries to help internationally educated allied health professionals join B.C.’s workforce.

Progress made to date:

• 547 new international medical graduates registered so far in 2023;
• more than 450 new internationally educated nurses registered so far in 2023;
• 2,800 internationally educated nurses currently going through the new, faster pathway; and
• 979 health-care aides hired through the Health Careers Access Program since April 1, 2023.
• Link to additional information