Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, this is a hugely important issue. As all members know, the federal role in this is quite limited because the regulation of professions is a provincial responsibility under the constitutional division of powers. We know each province has created or oversees some 40 licensing bodies in their own jurisdictions. That's over 400 across the country.
That being said, our government has taken meaningful federal leadership to try to provide much better information to newcomers on pathways to credential recognition before they even arrive in Canada. We've done so through our $32 million investment in the foreign credential referral office, and the creation of the Canadian immigration integration project pilot offices abroad, which we will be expanding this year, which in part provide advice to newcomers and to federal skilled workers prior to their landing on how to apply for and obtain credential recognition in their respective professional governing bodies and in the provinces in which they intend to settle.
We've also continued with the foreign credential recognition program in the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, which works with professional agencies on streamlining their processes, highlighting best practices, and supporting the work of NGOs in mentorship programs and in apprenticeship programs--for instance, giving foreign-trained medical doctors who have not had their credentials recognized an opportunity to at least get trained as paramedics so they can work in the medical field.
Finally, the Prime Minister committed in the last election and in the Speech from the Throne to establish an agreement with the provinces on a national framework for credential recognition. We were delighted that this occurred in January at the first ministers meeting, and I believe my colleague Minister Finley and I will be making some positive announcements in the near future about the progress we're making on the creation of a national framework for credential recognition so that there is much greater coordination among the 10 provinces.