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The Integration of Immigrants into Canada’s Health Care Workforce

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Project Lead

Arthur Sweetman

Team Members

Yaqi Liu, Torin Pracek

Health workforce issues affect not only the immigrants in or seeking to join the health care workforce, but also health care workforce planning and service provision to immigrant and non-immigrant Canadians.

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Objective 

There is a well-established literature addressing immigrant integration into the Canadian health workforce, however much of the detailed quantitative analysis is superficial and/or dated. Furthermore, many policy changes have occurred in recent years and are ongoing to better integrate immigrants into the Canadian health workforce, but little is known about the progress/success of these initiatives.

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Research question(s)

  1. How likely are immigrants to work in various occupations/jobs within the health workforce?
  2. How likely are immigrants with relevant health credentials to work in their trained occupation with respect to various factors?
  3. How are regulatory processes affecting immigrants in the health workforce?
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Methodology

This project will be quantitative and involve the analysis of large data sets, especially various censuses, Statistics Canada administrative data, as well as provincial (esp. Ontario – at least at the outset) administrative data. It will also use detailed Ontario regulatory college data to examine registration patterns and (self-)employment characteristics.

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Status

The project is currently in progress, with multiple knowledge mobilization activities and publications in the works.

Expected completion date: December 2026

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Outcomes

Publications:

Grootendorst, P., Kralj, B., & Sweetman, A. (2025). Long-term trends in the labour supply and productivity of pharmacists in Canada. Canadian Pharmacists Journal / Revue des Pharmaciens du Canada, 158(4), 236–246. https://doi.org/10.1177/17151635251330871

Past events and conferences: 

  • Half-day pre-conference workshop on health human resources, co-led by A. Sweetman, Canadian Association for Health Services and Policy Research (CAHSPR) Conference, Ottawa, Canada, May 26-29, 2025,
  • "Internationally trained healthcare professionals", presented by A. Sweetman, Metropolis Conference, Toronto, Canada, March 13-15, 2025
  • "HHR and the workforce in long-term care", presented by A. Sweetman, CanSPARK LTC Research Network Meeting (webinar), 2025
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Keywords

Canada; health care workforce; health workforce; immigrant employment; migrant integration