ONTARIO-The Ontario government says it intends to introduce legislation that will prioritize international medical graduates (IMGs) from Ontario for postgraduate medical residency positions in the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS). Officials say this change will make it easier for Ontario students who studied medicine abroad to return home, complete their training and have a career as a doctor in Ontario.
If passed, the legislation would align Ontario with the approach taken by other jurisdictions in Canada, such as Nova Scotia, and ensure Ontario students who may otherwise do their residency elsewhere in Canada or abroad, will have a better opportunity to complete their training and begin their medical careers at home. As medical students with closer ties to the province are more likely to stay and practise in Ontario after their residency, prioritizing positions for Ontario IMGs will help thousands more doctors train, work, and remain in the province for the duration of their careers.
“Our government is protecting Ontario’s health-care system by taking bold action to strengthen Ontario’s physician workforce now, and into the future,” said Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “This proposed change to the matching process would make it easier for Ontarians studying medicine abroad to attend residency and have a career as a doctor back home in Ontario.”
As part of the government’s plan to increase the number of family doctors, the province will be adding more than 270 new residency seats at Ontario medical schools bringing the total to 1,739 positions across the province, a nearly 50 per cent increase since 2018.
Currently, residency positions are filled through CaRMS, a two-round process that matches international and Canadian medical graduates to postgraduate training programs across Canada. While students who completed their studies at an Ontario institution will continue to have first-round prioritization, the new legislation will ensure a dedicated stream is reserved for Ontario IMGs who completed their medical education abroad.
The proposed regulations would prioritize Ontario IMGs and define them as someone who meets one of the following criteria:
- Attended a secondary school in Ontario full-time for two or more years
- Attended full-time and in-person at an Ontario university for two or more years
- Physically resided and lived continuously in Ontario for at least 24 weeks during a period beginning the year prior to the application (for the 2027 match, the period would begin January 1, 2025).
The government would begin working with medical schools and CaRMS to implement the proposed changes in summer 2026, ahead of the September 2026 application cycle for the 2027 CaRMS match.
