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Expanded National Newcomer Navigation Network to help internationally educated health care professionals

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Expanded National Newcomer Navigation Network to help internationally educated health care professionals
News release

June 6, 2022—Ottawa, Ontario—Newcomers are essential to Canada’s short-term recovery and long-term prosperity, including in the health care sector. As we continue to welcome newcomers who bring the essential skills we need for our economy to thrive, settlement services play a key role in helping them to succeed.

Building on the success of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario’s (CHEO’s) National Newcomer Navigation Network (N4), Marie-France Lalonde, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, today announced close to $1.5 million to promote sector collaboration and information sharing of foreign qualification and credential recognition requirements for internationally educated health care professionals.
This expanded project will help internationally educated health care professionals fill key positions in the health care labour market. It will also enable N4 to serve as a platform where newcomers and internationally educated health care professionals can find information on foreign qualification and credential recognition in all provinces and territories outside Quebec.
The project will also
  • aim to identify barriers faced by internationally educated health care professionals in having their foreign credentials recognized in Canada
  • provide practical policy recommendations to address gaps in the sector
  • help internationally educated health care professionals access credential and qualification requirements faster
  • remove barriers to working in Canada’s health care system
Quotes

“CHEO has a proven track record of ensuring health and social service sector professionals have the knowledge and tools they need to provide equitable care and services to newcomers. We are pleased to continue working with the National Newcomer Navigation Network to support health care professionals educated abroad in securing jobs in Canada’s health care sector. These services will help more newcomers succeed, while also helping to build a better future for all Canadians”.


– Marie-France Lalonde, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

“Newcomers are an integral part of our communities. Their full inclusion in our health-care workforce will help us address staffing shortages, while also incorporating richly diverse voices of lived experience and better supporting other newcomers.”


– Alex Munter, CEO and President, CHEO

Quick facts
  • Service delivery improvements funding is a dedicated stream within Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s Settlement Program that invests strategically in projects that offer insights on program design and sector improvements to support future settlement programming.
  • Over 100 projects were funded under the first expression of interest process for service delivery improvements launched in 2017. The second expression of interest was launched in 2020, and IRCC is currently funding 80 projects across the country.
  • In April 2019, CHEO launched the National Newcomer Navigation Network (N4) to focus on breaking down barriers faced by newcomers, including linguistic and cultural hurdles when accessing health and social services. N4 developed an online platform to facilitate inter-sectoral connections, learning and collaborations, including a resource toolkit, community of practice working groups, certificate program, database and bi-monthly webinars by subject matter experts.