UnCanadian. Unjust. Unacceptable. A response by ITPC to the Ontario Government's exclusion of immigrant ITPs from the CaRMS 1st iteration

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October 8th, 2025

Ontario’s Discriminatory Decision to Exclude Immigrant Internationally Trained Physicians from CaRMS 1st Iteration: We’re Calling It Out! 

After years of ITPC (formerly ITPO) calling for equity and the opening of all residency positions in all specialties to all ITPs, the Government of Ontario has done the exact opposite. Only six weeks before the CaRMS application deadline, the Government of Ontario has imposed a directive that bars immigrant internationally trained physicians (ITPs) from applying in the first iteration of the 2026 residency match.

Only Canadian Studied Abroad (CSAs) — those who attended high school in Ontario — will be eligible.

Immigrant ITPs, who live, work, and pay taxes in this province, will be forced to wait for the second iteration, when most positions are already filled.

This was not a policy improvement.

This was an act of exclusion — deliberate, discriminatory, and devastatingly un-Canadian.

Ontario’s medical residency programs proudly promote DEI in their missions and policies — Well this is a moment to act! 

You cannot speak the language of inclusion while practicing exclusion.

You cannot champion equity while enforcing inequality.

And you cannot call yourself Canadian while denying opportunity to those who embody its very values — resilience, service, and compassion.

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Legally Canadian but not ‘Canadian Enough’

We were made to believe by the federal immigration system that Canada needs doctors.

We were given immigration ranking points for our professional medical degree.

We came here as permanent residents.

We became citizens.

We paid taxes.

We raised families.

We volunteered in clinics, in hospitals, in community health drives.

And yet, we are told that we are still not Canadian enough to apply alongside others who hold the same qualifications, and often less experience.

How can a province that preaches diversity, equity, and inclusion justify a policy that so blatantly violates every one of those principles?

This is not just unfair.

It is hypocritical. The government applies As of Right for US physicians to work in Canada but bars Canadian permanent residents/citizens from accessing residency programs to attain their licence. Are we not doctors too? Are we not Canadian?

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The Human Cost

Behind every “internationally trained physician” is a human being who answered Canada’s call for skilled professionals.

They passed licensing exams.

They retrained, volunteered, and worked under supervision — often in underserved communities.

They are not outsiders.

They are part of Ontario’s fabric.

Yet, today, they wake up to find that their contribution counts for less because they didn’t attend an Ontario high school.

This decision was announced barely 1½ months before the CaRMS deadline — when thousands of immigrant physicians have already invested time, money, and hope preparing their applications.

This is not governance. It’s sabotage.

It erases years of effort from people who believed Ontario when it said “We need you.”

This is what systemic discrimination looks like — sanitized, bureaucratic, and deeply harmful.

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Our Message to the Ontario Government

We Call on the Government of Ontario To:

• Reverse this directive immediately — open the first iteration of CaRMS to all qualified ITPs.

• Engage with ITP-led organizations like ITPC to ensure equitable representation in future decision-making.

• Publicly renounce these actions that maliciously segregate a portion of the residents of Ontario & reaffirm Ontario’s commitment to DEI — not through slogans, but through action.

You don’t get to pick and choose when to apply Canadian values.

You can’t quote “diversity, equity and inclusion” in press releases, and then enforce exclusion in practice.

If you truly believe in DEI, walk it — don’t just talk it.

Because the world is watching.

And this decision does not reflect the Canada we know, the one that welcomed us, the one we believed in.

This is UnCanadian — not just by policy, but by principle.

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ITPC Promises

We will not be silent.

We will write. We will speak. We will organize.

We will remind every policymaker that the strength of Ontario’s healthcare system depends on fairness — not favoritism.

We came here because we believed in Canada.

Now it’s time for Canada — and Ontario — to believe in us.

#reversethechanges #openthespots

#CallItOut #ThisIsUnCanadian #WalkTheTalk #EquityMeansEveryone #ITPsBelongHere #StopSystemicExclusion #ITPsareCanadianstoo