There is.
World Directory of Medical Schools
But being a graduate of an acceptable medical school is only the beginning. Yes, there are differing requirements among the provinces and territories, but most (I think the main outlier is Quebec) are pretty much the same when it comes to minimum educational and training requirements needed to register for independent practice. Despite that an IMG may have completed their schooling and internship (Ireland still calls the first year of post graduate medical training internship), had successfully passed any exams needed in that jurisdiction for registration on the (Irish) general practice register and could have started "general" practice in that country, there are a few
more hoops to jump through to meet the medical education requirements of Canada (the same ones that Canadian graduates have to meet).
The first are the
Medical Council of Canada exams. While the MCCs role is to set the standard (and judge that individuals meet that standard) the provincial Medical Regulatory Authorities (MRA) also have a say. I'll use Alberta as an example.
cpsa.ca
Since everybody loves a flowchart
View attachment 78379
Simple, right?
Using your nieces' experience. They did their medical undergrad in Eire as well as (I assume) their
one year internship, at which point they were eligible to register with the Medical Council of Ireland (their licensing body) in the General Division and thus practise independently in Ireland. Like many IMGs who wish to move to Canada and work as doctors, they naturally assume that since they speak English (Irish accents notwithstanding), have attended an acceptable school and now have a license to practise in Ireland (and may have already put out a shingle in the Auld Sod) that they are qualified doctors so why doesn't Canada accept them.
The major impediments to foreign trained doctors not getting a license are usually failure to pass the MCC exams (sometimes that's due to a language deficiency and sometimes because it's been years since they were in med school). The other is unacceptable, unverifiable or insufficient post-graduate training, i.e. residency. What would be acceptable post-grad? In Alberta
For Irish trained doctors (FM/GP), that means
MICGP would mean four years post-graduate training (two years in a hospital and two years under supervision in a practice) instead of the one year internship licensing. In Canada family medicine residency is two years, and in the case of Alberta two years is the minimum amount of post-grad to be eligible for independent practice registration.
I don't know if there are any Canadian jurisdiction that still accept a one year residency/internship. Quebec used to and maybe one of the territories. Back in the 1980s (when I was the Hosp Adm O at CFB Edmonton) one of our doctors was unable to get an Alberta license (it pissed her off because she couldn't moonlight downtown like all the other MOs) because she had only done one year post-grad before getting her Quebec license which acceptable at the time for the CAF.
While the simple answer is to have them do a Canadian residency, there are limitations (capacity, financial, etc) to how many IMGs can be absorbed into existing Canadian residency programs.