Canadian-born doctors who can’t work in Canada

“I didn’t even try to come home. I just knew how hard it would be,” Brennan told CBC News.

“We had someone from the B.C. residency program come to Australia and they basically said, ‘Don’t come back.’ The statistically low match rate means even some of the top students don’t get through. So I said, ‘Why bother?’

“It’s really sad because I went to medical school thinking I’d just come back to Canada. I think that’s what all of us thought. Going to school in Australia — it’s a way to be a doctor, but it’s not actually a way to be a doctor in Canada.”

While he was reluctant to leave Canada, his mum and sister in Vancouver and his dad in Calgary, Brennan turned to the U.S., where international medical graduates are more than twice as likely to land a residency.

“They have enough spots to accommodate every single American student and a ton of internationals,” he said. “They’ve got it figured out.”

Read more on Meet the Canadian-born doctors who can’t work in Canada via CBC.