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Expanding Veterinary Capacity in Canada
September 20, 2022
The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) responded to concerns and emerging trends that pointed to a significant current, and critical future shortage of veterinary capacity in Canada and commissioned a comprehensive Veterinary Workforce Study in 2020. The Study examined the current and future supply/demand balance for veterinary services across the Canadian companion animal, food animal and equine sector. A number of recommendations resulted, but the primary recommendation was that the CVMA and veterinary medicine/industry stakeholders across Canada work collaboratively to “develop a long-term strategy to grow the Canadian veterinarian population at a net annual rate of 3.5 - 4.0 per cent and develop a parallel strategy to address the shortage of veterinary technicians.”
Responding to the results of the workforce study, the CVMA hosted a two-day Veterinary Workforce Congress in June 2022, chaired by Dr. Louis Kwantes, 2021-22 CVMA President. Congress attendance was by invitation with representation from more than 50 stakeholders from the veterinary profession, clinical practice, industry, and government from across Canada. The Congress developed a set of “emerging priority pathways” that identified the CVMA’s role in addressing veterinary workforce issues at a national level and the roles of other stakeholders for those issues within their span of control or influence, and the Congress initiated broad stakeholder collaboration and provided for the beginning of a dynamic pathway of continued collaboration on a national level.
Read the full report here.