Sample letters for Ontario political action for Statements of Needs

Write to the candidates in your riding.  Encourage people you know in swing ridings to write their candidates.

Dear Mr. / Ms. XXXXX:
I would like to seek your support in addressing an unfortunate injustice in the Ontario Health System that is preventing a number of Ontario medical students who study in the United States or abroad to pursue medical residency training outside of Canada.

OPTIONAL SENTENCE : My (son/daughter/friend) is being impacted by this injustice for which I am seeking your support. (OR) I am seeking your support in addressing this injustice.

More than 3,000 young Canadians study medicine in the United States or abroad. They are among our best and brightest. These young Canadians are determined to pursue their studies in medicine despite much adversity. All share the dream of becoming physicians. Some will come back and practice in Canada, while others will end up practicing medicine all over the world, including Third World countries. Some may even end up being at the forefront of medical discoveries!

Yet, Canadians who study abroad face a grave injustice from their own Canadian and provincial governments when trying to secure a residency training placement in the United States or elsewhere. If they secure a residency placement outside Canada, they need to get “Statements of Need” from the Government of Canada in order for them to obtain a visa to work in another country. Canada is limiting the number of Statements of Need it issues for an increasing number of specialties and subspecialties. There are cases of medical students who have secured a residency in the United States, but were refused a Statement of Need, thus preventing them from working and training in that country or elsewhere.

Canadian Governments have set limits on Statements of Need in an attempt to control what they fear could be an oversupply of certain specialists in Canada. The fact that many Canadians who study medicine abroad various reasons end up practicing medicine elsewhere was not considered, nor the fact that Canada is the only country that limits the number of Statements of Need. Medical education training is the only field of work where Government is preventing Canadians from pursuing their dreams and career aspirations, a clear breach of our Charter of Rights and Freedom.

I am asking you to commit to ensure the federal government issues an unlimited number of Statements of Need to Canadian students who secure a residency in the United States or abroad. These students work too hard to have their own government work against their professional aspirations. Instead of blocking their career aspirations, government should celebrate the fact that Canadians who study medicine abroad are assets in addressing physician shortages around the world. Canadians who practice medicine abroad are ambassadors who can facilitate exchanges between Canada and other countries for the advancement of science and medicine. This should be supported, not stifled!

I am an undecided voter and thus, I hope I can count on your support to address this issue. I intend to vote for the candidate that will commit to endorsing Statements of Needs for all Canadians who have matched to a specialty or fellowship medical training position in the U.S or abroad.

I would appreciate receiving your response before election day.
Sincerely,
XXXX

SEE OTHER POSSIBLE PARAGRAPHS BELOW THAT YOU CAN CONSIDER. (IT’S BETTER IF LETTERS ARE PERSONAL AND NOT ALL THE SAME. YOU SHOULD MAKE YOUR YOUR OWN)

Ontario does not educate or train enough medical students to meet Ontario’s needs. One out of 5 Canadian reported waiting 7 days or more the last time they needed medical attention and one out of 2 Canadian reported waiting 4 weeks or more to see a specialist (CIHI report). Through HealthForce Ontario, Ontario tries to recruit Intenational Medical Graduates to address this gap.

Ontario actively denies a simple document called a Statement of Need to young Canadians who were born and/or raised in Canada, who have graduated from reputable international medical schools, who have proven themselves outstanding, and who have matched to American medical training programs. Without this document these bright accomplished young Canadians cannot complete their medical education and cannot be certified and licensed to practice medicine in Ontario or anywhere else in the world.

The American government is prepared to train Canadians at no cost to Canada. All the USA requires to issue a visa to allow these young Canadians to train is a letter saying there is a need for this physician in Canada. And even though there is a significant need for family doctors, pediatricians, internal medicine specialists, radiologists, and many others as is evident from Health Force Ontario’s website, Ontario refuses to endorse Statements of Need.

Canada is the only developed country in the world which does not issue Statements of Needs to its young people, so they can complete their education and training. It is the only country in the world that chooses to devastate its young citizens who have invested 8 years of their lives, incurred huge student loan debt to realize their dreams, and succeeded in proving themselves by matching to a residency training position.