Physical Therapists

Achieving Canadian Licensure

In Canada a physiotherapist (PT) is a university graduate with a minimum of four years academic training plus clinical internships completed in recognized health care facilities across the world.

Foreign educated PTs wanting to receive an independent practice certificate in Canada must generally complete three steps.

1.  Determination of educational equivalence.  The Canadian Alliance of Physiotherapy Regulators (Alliance) and the Physiotherapist Credential Evaluators (PCE) work together to determine educational equivalence of PTs educated outside of Canada.

This process generally takes 10 - 14 weeks to complete.  The fees required to complete this step are currently $725.00Cdn.

2.  Physiotherapy National Exam (PNE).  The PNE consists of two parts: a written exam (Qualifying Exam) and a clinical component (Physiotherapy National Exam)

The written component is a 4 hour multiple choice written exam that evaluates a candidate's knowledge about entry-level physical therapy skills, behaviours and abilities.

The clinical component involves 16 stations in an Objective Structured Clinical Examination format. This component test a candidate's understanding and performance of safe, effective application of the principles and processes of entry level PT practice.

These two components are completed separately with a passing score of the PNE being a requirement to be eligible to take the clinical exam.

The cost of the written exam is currently $575.00Cdn and the cost of the clinical exam is $1,000.00.  The full amount of these fees are paid to the appropriate licensure/regulatory body.  No portion of these fees is related to services provided to applicants by WorldWide HealthStaff Associates Ltd.

3.  Provincial Registration - upon successfully completing steps 1 and 2, applicants are required to register with the provincial regulatory body.  The registration fees vary from province to province ranging from $150.00Cdn in Ontario to $300.00 in Manitoba.