The number of "foreign trainees" in the field of medical residency has increased by 70 percent since 2019.

Canada is facing a severe shortage of doctors - a staffing crisis that is expected to worsen in the coming years as the number of residency positions available fails to keep up with rapid population growth.

Despite these challenges, nearly 1,000 Canadian doctors who went to medical schools abroad are turned away each year because they cannot secure residency spots in Canada, according to a review by CBC News of medical school data, where doctors must complete a residency to obtain a license to practice.

Canadian doctors wishing to return home to work are routinely told that this is not possible due to limited resources and only a few residency positions available.

However, the medical schools running residency programs still find room for foreign citizens from countries such as Oman, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia - individuals who often have no intention of staying in Canada for long-term work.

All of this is happening with the blessing of Ottawa, as the federal government has exempted medical schools from immigration laws requiring Canadians to be prioritized for jobs.

Critics have also stated that dismantling the foreign trainee visa program - which grants several hundred residency spots to non-Canadians - would free up positions so that more local doctors can work here in Canada and help reduce the doctor shortage.

In the current academic year, 1,810 international medical graduates (IMGs) from Canada have applied for residency, according to data from the Canadian Residency Matching Service (CaRMS). Among them are doctors who attended medical schools in countries such as Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.

As Canadian medical schools grant privileges to their graduates and impose a strict quota on IMGs, only 370 of them have been granted residencies to complete the required post-graduate training.

The result is a massive brain drain, with many qualified Canadian doctors being forced to go to the United States - a country where residency positions are more readily available.