The Kirby Report
In October 2002, the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, chaired by Senator Michael Kirby, released its report The Health of Canadians - The Federal Role. In this document, the Committee stressed the need for cooperation among all stakeholders to reduce problems of maldistribution, undersupply, and jurisdictional competition. He recommended that the federal government work with other concerned parties to create a permanent national coordinating body for HHR, to be composed of representatives from key stakeholder groups and the different levels of government. Its mandate would include:
- disseminating up-to-date data on human resource needs;
- coordinating initiatives to ensure that adequate numbers of graduates are being trained to meet the goal of self-sufficiency in HHR;
- sharing and promoting best practices with regard to strategies for retaining skilled health care professionals and coordinating efforts to repatriate Canadian health care professionals who have
to other countries;
- recommending strategies for increasing the supply of health care professionals from under-represented groups, such as Canada's Aboriginal peoples, and in under-serviced regions, particularly the rural and remote areas of the country; and
of the possibilities for greater coordination of licensing and immigration requirements between the various levels of government.