Health committee  Yes. As somebody who sits on those committees, I probably have more numbers at the top of my head.

Health committee  Yes, he definitely raised the point. On average recently, we've seen about 70 medical students a year go unmatched after the second iteration. Oftentimes we have many family medicine seats that are available, especially in the province of Quebec. They do a better job of making more seats available.

Health committee  As somebody who had to travel 27 hours to deliver my third child because I lived in Fort Nelson, B.C., at the time, I think a key piece of that is giving rural communities access to the resources they need to provide care. I had to travel to Burnaby to deliver my child because that was the only place I could afford to stay with family.

Health committee  Unfortunately, there is this hidden curriculum within our educational agenda that we are taught by subspecialists. A big part of that comes from how compensation of our preceptors is given. One thing we hear from our folks in Quebec, from the FMEQ, the student organization that represents the Quebec students, is that our family physicians are actually not compensated the same way as the specialty positions are in the province of Quebec, so there's less incentive for them to be part of teaching us.

Health committee  Yes. Absolutely. Prior to my medical education, I did a lot of work in my undergraduate degree in the province of B.C. through the BC Federation of Students. One of the big surveys and studies we did was around fairness for international students. I met with students on a regular basis who had the exact training that you talked about but were unable to make that next step in bringing those qualifications forward.

Health committee  You raise an incredibly important point that we face as medical learners. One thing that academia does a really great job of is adding things without ever evaluating whether or not we need to continue to keep some of the things that are still pieces of the puzzle. What we've seen in medical education over the past many decades is our understanding in science.

Health committee  Secondly, there is an urgent need for national licensure. Currently, the application process for medical licensure requires physicians to submit separate applications to each of the 13 provinces' and territories' medical regulatory authorities that license physicians. This limits physicians from providing services in multiple jurisdictions without going through a separate licensure process for each province and territory.

Health committee  We have three key recommendations. A national integrated health and human resource plan, that has an intergovernmental approach spearheaded by the federal government, is urgently required. We need to eliminate barriers for medical professionals, by enabling the adoption of a national licensure system.

Health committee  Mahsi cho . Thank you to the Standing Committee on Health for taking the time to hear from the Canadian Federation of Medical Students. We are an organization that represents over 8,000 students from 15 medical schools across the country and the future of the health care system.