Since 2024, the Canadian Pharmacists Association’s (CPhA) International Pharmacy Graduate (IPG) Mentorship and Integration Project has been helping internationally educated pharmacists navigate the path to licensure and build experience in Canadian pharmacy practice.

Funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Foreign Credential Recognition Program, the four-year project combines education, mentorship, employment supports and paid mentored work placements.

As the project approaches its third anniversary and enters the final year of its current funding in January 2027, results are showing progress toward licensure, employment and greater readiness to practise in Canada.

As of September 2026, the project had received more than 1,200 IPG applications and 675 mentor applications, facilitated 241 mentored work placements, and helped 49 participants achieve pharmacist licensure. Participant surveys also show strong gains in practice readiness and confidence, while demand for placements continues to exceed available capacity.

Supporting an important part of Canada’s pharmacy workforce

International pharmacy graduates are already an important part of Canada’s pharmacy workforce, accounting for approximately 35% of licensed pharmacists.

But many qualified IPGs face a lengthy and complex pathway to licensure. National exams, practice assessments and other provincial requirements can take years to complete, while opportunities to gain relevant Canadian pharmacy experience and build professional networks can be limited.

At the same time, Canada is facing growing pharmacy workforce pressures. Health Canada projects that pharmacists will have the lowest average annual supply growth among eight assessed health professions, at 1.1% from 2022 to 2034. Shortages are particularly challenging in rural and underserved communities, where pharmacist vacancies can directly affect access to medications, vaccines and other primary care services.

The IPG Mentorship and Integration Project was created to help address both challenges by supporting internationally educated pharmacists as they move toward licensure and employment in Canada.

Moving IPGs toward practice

Paid mentored work placements are a central part of the project, providing structured experience in Canadian pharmacies while participants work toward licensure.

By September 2026, completed placements had provided more than 45,000 hours of paid Canadian pharmacy experience and over $1 million in wages directly to participating IPGs.

Participants are also reporting significant gains in readiness and confidence:

• 94% reported a greatly improved understanding of Canadian pharmacy practice and operations
• 91% reported increased confidence in attempting the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada qualifying examinations; and
• 97% reported increased confidence in completing provincial licensure requirements.

For participants, the combination of mentorship, practical experience and employment support can help make an often difficult pathway more manageable.

Creating pathways to employment

Early results also point to benefits beyond licensure.

Among participants surveyed following their placements, 35% were offered continued employment by their placement pharmacy. Among those who were not offered continued employment, 37% reported finding paid pharmacy work elsewhere. Approximately 75% of respondents surveyed five months later were still working at their placement site.

“For many unlicensed IPGs, just getting a foot in the door of a pharmacy is a huge challenge, said Kelsey Skromeda, Director of the Integration Program. “A mentored placement opens that door, and with it, the practice experience they need to move toward licensure.”

Employers are seeing value in the model as well. In a project survey, 73% of pharmacy owners and managers said they saw IPG placements as a potential response to recruitment challenges, while 81% of placement hosts surveyed said they would be very likely to host another placement.

These results reinforce the potential of a coordinated approach that brings together learning, mentorship, employment supports and paid Canadian pharmacy experience to help IPGs move toward practice.

Building on the results

Demand for placements and integration supports remains greater than what can be delivered under the project’s current funding.

Renewed funding would sustain the education, mentorship, paid placements and job-readiness supports already being delivered while expanding placement capacity. It would also create the opportunity to expand the program into hospital pharmacy settings, while increasing placements in rural and remote communities, where workforce pressures can be particularly significant.

As the project enters its final funded year, CPhA will continue to track outcomes and share what we are learning. Continued federal investment would build on the progress made so far and help more internationally educated pharmacists put their skills and experience to work in communities across Canada.