College Certificate - Medical Laboratory Assistant

This one year Ontario College Certificate trains medical laboratory assistants in specimen collection, phlebotomy technique, laboratory safety and infection control, specimen processing, laboratory information systems and the quality documentation that accredited laboratories operate under.

Within the one year structure the source records a field placement. Placement in a working laboratory is the point at which technique becomes reliable, and it is also where most graduates meet their first employer, which in Thunder Bay commonly means the regional hospital or an affiliated laboratory service.

The program is listed as PGWP aligned by the college, carrying CIP code 51.0802. Length matters here: a one year credential normally yields a Post Graduation Work Permit limited to the program length rather than three years, and it does not meet the two year threshold used by the Thunder Bay Rural Community Immigration Pilot for its graduate work experience exemption.

Entry per the source is Grade 12 / High School with 50 percent; the English requirement is IELTS 6.5 overall and no band below 6, recorded against Ontario college program code 0603.5 overall and no band below 6.0, a stricter English profile than most certificates because of the patient contact involved. Recorded tuition is CAD 18,587 for the year.

Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre is the diagnostic hub for all of Northwestern Ontario, which gives this small program an unusually direct employment pipeline. Placement in that laboratory environment is often the route to a first job. Applicants should note the higher English requirement of IELTS 6.5 relative to most certificates, which reflects the patient contact and precision documentation involved. The recorded application deadline for September 2026 is 24 June 2026, and immunisation plus police clearance are required before placement can begin.