Note: This article was originally published in our Summer/Autumn 2022 edition of our On Call newsletter and has not been updated.
The College has launched our new Orientation and Assessment Program for internationally educated midwives (IEM) who wish to practise midwifery in Ontario.
In the recent past, internationally educated midwives would have attended the International Midwifery Preregistration Program (IMPP) at Toronto Metropolitan University. That program concluded in 2021 and the College committed to ensuring that internationally educated midwife applicants had a route of entry into the profession.
Going forward, internationally educated midwives who have not practised in Canada or attended one of Ontario’s Midwifery Education Programs must apply to the Orientation and Assessment Program to meet the requirements for registration to practise in Ontario.
Internationally educated midwives who successfully complete the College’s Orientation and Assessment program will be deemed to have equivalency to the qualifications of an Ontario Midwifery Education Program graduate and be eligible to write the Canadian Midwifery Registration Exam (CRME), enabling IEMs to apply for registration with the College to practise in Ontario.
There are five eligibility requirements which IEMs must meet to enroll in the orientation and assessment program. Before submitting an application, IEMs must consider the following:
- Are you a Canadian Citizen, Permanent Resident or authorized under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada) to engage in employment in Canada?
- Have you completed a formal structured midwifery education program anywhere in the world?
- Have you or will you complete an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) academic test (or equivalent test) with a score of seven or above in all components?
- Have you practised as a midwife providing clinical care in the previous six years?
- Have you attended a minimum of 100 births as the midwife in charge? (A maximum of 60 of these births can have taken place during your midwifery education. A minimum of 40 of these births must have taken place during your experience as a practising midwife after the completion of your midwifery education.)
Internationally educated midwives enrolled in the Orientation and Assessment Program may spend up to nine months completing the College’s online assessment modules, 14 days in the in-person comprehensive assessment intensive, and then will be eligible to take the Canadian Midwifery Registration Exam (CMRE).
We anticipate the first 14-day in-person comprehensive assessment intensive will be held in spring 2023, in advance of the CMRE’s May 2023 sitting.
We are not yet accepting applications for the Orientation and Assessment Program and we will update our website with more information as it becomes available.