Canada is in urgent need of doctors, but foreign-trained physicians can’t find residencies here, leaving many of them to take jobs outside their fields.
This story is part of Welcome to Canada, a CBC News series about immigration told through the eyes of the people who have experienced it.
Ismelda Ramirez says she never expected to swap her white doctor’s coat for a McDonald’s uniform. Despite training as a family doctor in the Dominican Republic, she ended up working at the fast-food chain for eight months after she moved to Quebec in 2022.
She’s one of thousands of internationally trained physicians, or ITPs, living in Canada, the vast majority of whom are not working as doctors, according to advocacy groups.
“A lot of us international medical doctors, we are willing to work hard and to do what it takes just to get to our final goal,” said Ramirez.
Despite changes to the process aimed at increasing the …
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