Demand an END to Limitations on Medical Education. NOW.

Please sign our petition appealing to Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor in urging her to convince our Provincial Ministries of Health to end the Limit on Statements of Need Letters given out each year.

Canadians aspiring to be doctors, do just about anything to achieve their dreams. Including go as far as the Caribbean Islands, Australia, and Ireland, when Canadian medical schools do not have spots for them. Then after many grueling years of schooling they enter another shark tank to compete for residency positions. When Canada once again fails to give their returning citizens a chance to interview let alone match in a residency, the poor plight of these students take another hopeful direction to match in the south. The United States graciously opens their doors to give them a competing chance. Sometimes these poor students take years before they match into their respective fields. The stress has even led to some students taking their lives. It is devastating.

FINALLY, when America after years of trying, give Canadians a spot to train in their medical residencies, CANADA becomes a roadblock absurdly and unjustly barring these poor students from training by placing an irrational quota of how many "Statement of Need" (SON) letters can be issued in order for them to obtain a J1 visa in the US to complete their training.

What is a J1 visa? The most common type of work visa endorsed by American residency positions is a J1 visa, which requires Health Canada to issue a Statement of Need (SON). This ensures the U.S. government that there is a need for that type of physician in their home country once they complete their training. Unfortunately, Canada is the only developed country that limits the number of SONs they will issue. Without this SON, there is limited recourse for medical students; and many of them will be unable to begin their residency training, despite being qualified candidates.

This is outrageous, in the entire process Canada keeps a ball and chain on their citizens that want to make something of themselves. The process to obtain a residency position in the U.S. as a foreign medical graduate is an arduous one. It involves 4 years of medical education, hundreds of thousands of dollars of student debt, taking multiple board exams- and scoring well above their American equivalents. Often these graduates go on to work in underserved areas, in populations where there is little access to healthcare. It goes without saying that those affected by the limit imposed on SONs are beyond devastated. The response by Health Canada once an SON has been denied is to re-apply next year. This is simply not a feasible option for a student who is typically over $200,000 in debt, nor is it guaranteed that they will match again.

The US is giving Canadian citizens a fighting chance to become doctors and fulfil their dreams, but Canada is shutting the doors on them. This is unjust, unfair and outrageous. THE HEALTH MINISTER OUGHT TO REVIST THIS STATEMENT OF NEED (SON) LIMIT BECAUSE IT IS ENDING NOT ONLY CAREERS BUT LIVES. Please help in this cause by signing this petition so that Canada can change their policies and finally allow their citizens - no matter how many - to train in the US in their hard earned medical residencies. Show your support for our future physicians who have worked tirelessly to someday ease the physician shortage in Canada. The Canadian Health Minister needs to listen.

More information on the Statement of Need limits per specialty can be found here:

https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/health-care-system/health-human-resources/statements-need-postgraduate-medical-training-united-states/list-needed-specialties-issuing-statements-need-under-category.html