A review of migration patterns of English-speaking healthcare workers in Québec and existing French-language supports
In 2022, PERT published a report titled “French-language support for Québec’s English-speaking professionals.” This report examined the role of French language policies in professional orders and the language supports available to English-speaking prospective and current members of professional orders. We concluded that there is no comprehensive framework for supporting individuals who need to improve their French. Additionally, we found that most institutional stakeholders were not mandated nor had adequate capacity to provide French-language support to English-speaking health professionals. Since the publication of this report, the situation for English speakers within Québec’s healthcare system has become more complex. There are acute shortages of healthcare professionals, concerns about reduced access for English speakers, outmigration of healthcare workers, and the implementation of new French-language policies that may impact the hiring and retention of English-speaking healthcare workers.
In this project, we will expand on the findings of the report. The objectives are to:
Understand the immigration and out-migration of English-speaking healthcare professionals in order to identify the impacts of outmigration and immigration and analyze the existing capacity of English-speaking workers to fill existing labour shortages and healthcare needs
Identify the government-funded French-language training programs targeted at healthcare professionals in Québec
Formulate policy recommendations to support English speakers’ entry into and retention in Québec’s healthcare industry
This will be accomplished in two ways: an inventory of existing government-funded French-language training for healthcare workers, and analysis of education and migration patterns of English-speaking healthcare professionals through 2016 and 2021 census data.