By Mata Press Service

Immigrants in British Columbia are waiting longer for common elective surgeries than Canadian-born patients despite being treated within the same publicly funded healthcare system, according to a new study.

The population-based study examined 159,151 elective general surgeries performed in B.C. between 2013 and 2021. Researchers found immigrants waited an average of 83.7 days for surgery, compared with 76.3 days for non-immigrants.

The difference remained statistically significant after researchers adjusted for patient and healthcare system factors.

The disparity was even larger for some procedures raising questions about barriers facing newcomers seeking medical care.

Immigrants undergoing cholecystectomies, or gallbladder removal surgery, waited an average of 15.4 days longer than non-immigrant patients.

Among immigrants themselves, racialized patients faced longer waits than immigrants from European or English-speaking countries, according to the research published in Healthcare Policy.

The findings come as provincial governments across Canada pour more money into healthcare systems struggling with surgical backlogs, shortages of family doctors and growing demand for services.

Jason M. Sutherland, a University of British Columbia professor of health services and policy and one of the study's authors, said the findings suggest efforts to shorten healthcare queues also need to examine who gets through them fastest.

“Immigrants waited significantly longer than non-immigrants for their surgery,” Sutherland wrote in an article discussing the research, pointing to the 83.7-day average wait compared with 76.3 days for Canadian-born patients.

He said the results fit a broader body of Canadian research that has identified difficulties immigrants can encounter when trying to obtain primary care, physician services and cancer screening.

The study itself does not establish that discrimination caused the longer surgical waits. Researchers said the findings indicate barriers within healthcare delivery are delaying access for immigrant patients and warrant further investigation.

Sutherland said a range of factors could contribute to the gap, including language difficulties, cultural differences, work and caregiving responsibilities and difficulties communicating symptoms or navigating referrals and appointments.

Communication can become particularly important when physicians are assessing the urgency of a patient's condition.

“Communication breakdowns can also lead surgeons to believe that their surgery is less urgent than for someone better able to explain themselves,” Sutherland wrote.

He also pointed to practical barriers facing newcomers who may work inflexible hours, lack extended family support or have difficulty attending appointments during the day.

Those delays can have consequences beyond inconvenience.

Long waits for elective surgery can prolong pain and other symptoms, affect quality of life and keep patients away from work. Delayed treatment can also increase the likelihood that patients turn to emergency departments or require more costly hospital care, Sutherland said.

The issue is increasingly significant because immigrants represent a large and growing share of Canada's population.

More than 8.3 million people counted in the 2021 Census were immigrants, representing 23 per cent of Canada's population, the highest proportion in more than 150 years. Statistics Canada projections have estimated the share could rise to between 29.1 and 34 per cent by 2041.

That means disparities affecting immigrant access to healthcare have implications for the entire health system as governments confront an aging population and mounting pressure on hospitals and physicians.

Canada's publicly funded healthcare system is built around the principle that eligible residents receive medically necessary hospital and physician care regardless of their birthplace.

Yet the B.C. findings show that equal eligibility does not necessarily produce equal waiting times.

Researchers linked hospital discharge, immigration and physician billing data to compare the period between a patient's last general surgery visit and the date surgery was performed.

Of the more than 159,000 procedures studied, 14.3 per cent involved immigrants. Researchers concluded immigrants “tended to wait longer for elective surgery,” with racialized immigrants experiencing the longest waits.

Sutherland said governments trying to reduce surgical backlogs should examine whether language and cultural barriers are contributing to the disparities.

Among the measures he suggested are greater access to medical interpreters and translation services, more culturally diverse staff in medical practices and additional help for newcomers trying to find family doctors or nurse practitioners and navigate provincial health systems.

With immigrants accounting for a growing share of Canada's population, Sutherland argued that reducing overall waiting lists without addressing those barriers risks leaving an important part of the population behind.

“It is time to make fair access to healthcare for immigrants a central part of provincial strategies to reduce healthcare wait times,” he wrote.

Wait Times for Health Care in Canada, 2025 Report

• In 2025, physicians across Canada reported a median wait time of 28.6 weeks between a referral from a GP and receipt of treatment; down from 30.0 weeks in 2024.
• This is 208% longer than the 9.3 week wait Canadian patients could expect in 1993.
• The national 28.6 week total wait comprises two segments: 1) Referral by a GP to consultation with a specialist: 15.3 weeks, an increase over the 15.0 weeks recorded in 2024. 2) Consultation with a specialist to receipt of treatment: 13.3 weeks, a decrease from the 15.0 weeks recorded in 2024.
• Among the various specialties, patients waited the longest for Neurosurgery (49.9 weeks) and Orthopaedic Surgery (48.6 weeks)
• By contrast, patients faced shorter waits for Radiation Oncology (4.2 weeks) and Medical Oncology (4.7 weeks).
• After seeing a specialist, Canadian patients waited 4.5 weeks longer than what physicians consider to be clinically reasonable (8.8 weeks).
• Patients also suffered considerable delays for diagnostic technology: 8.8 weeks for CT scans, 18.1 weeks for MRI scans, and 5.4 weeks for Ultrasound.
• Across 10 provinces, the study estimated that patients in Canada were waiting for 1.4 million procedures in 2025. – Fraser Institute