I think it's really important that we try to bring the health care professionals who are already in Canada into our system, We know there are many examples of physicians, nurses and other health care providers who are already here in Canada, who have really struggled to access the system for multiple reasons. I think this funding could go to try to streamline that process.
It's very expensive to go through the process. I'm now speaking specifically of medicine, because that's what I am more familiar with. We know there are issues with the cost of pursuing that training. There are issues with having enough access to the apprenticeship model we use, because foreign-trained physicians need to spend some time with a Canadian provider for practice readiness assessment, which is often unpaid work. Access to Canadian physicians who can provide that support and help integrate and orient people into our system is limited, so that is a barrier too. Then there's the cost. The regulatory aspect, again, of then having their documents assessed through our regulatory bodies and then being licensed is very expensive.
Those, I think, are all processes that could be simplified, streamlined and supported, as well as financial supports for those health care providers who are foreign-trained physicians themselves as they're going through that process, which would then allow folks to be successfully onboarded into our system. Right now, because the regulatory aspects of it are so varied, it's very difficult, and many people are never able to actually complete the process and remain outside the practice of medicine. I believe this is a challenge across health professions. If those dollars could be invested into better understanding how we can streamline that process and support people, I think we would have more chance of successfully integrating those health care professionals into our system.