Canada celebrates International Nurses Day each year on May 12 to honor nurses’ work they do provide quality healthcare services to Canadians.

Canada continues to deal with the high demand for nurses due to the ongoing impact of covid 19 and the aging population.

As per the latest job vacancy data as of January 2023, Canada records the highest number of job vacancies, around 162,100, in the healthcare and social assistance sector.

Both federal and provincial governments believe that immigration and quick tracking of credential recognition for Internationally Educated Nurses (IENs) are the two major components of addressing the ending the labor shortage and filling these vacancies.

The high demand for nurses in Canada

Canada’s healthcare sector experienced a shortage of nurses not only after the covid 19 pandemic but even prior to it. As per the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) report of 2022, many nurses suffered poor mental health and exhaustion during the pandemic, which led to a large number of resignations among healthcare practitioners.

After the release of budget 2023, the CFNU mentioned that, as per a poll, due to workloads and inappropriate staffing levels, four out of ten nurses are considering quitting their jobs, while one in every two younger, fresher nurses is experiencing clinical burnout.

Provinces efforts to attract and retain nurses

In Canada, healthcare falls under the responsibility of the provinces, and each province is efforting to attract and retain nurses.

To attract immigrant nurses, the government has removed the barriers that Internationally Educated Nurses (IENs) might experience while reaching the country. For instance, many nurses face difficulties in obtaining the accreditation that is required to practice in Canada.

In order to address this challenge, the provinces are efforting and taking measures to employ and retain the increased number of nurses.

Alberta

In order to support and train more IENs, Alberta announced that the province is investing over $15 million. In the funds, the $7.8 million is allocated for bursaries of up to $30,000 for students, and the remaining will be used to create 600 new seats for nurses bridging programs in three of its universities.

In addition, Alberta signed an Agreement with the Philippines to facilitate the Process of employing Filipino registered and licensed practical nurses.

British Columbia

In British Columbia, recently, the government implemented a new nurse-to-patient ratio, which will vary depending on the care location. This aims to provide the patient with the required assistance and ensure that nurses are not exhausted by the workload.

For instance, a ventilated patient will have a nurse, depicting the 1:1 ratio.

In addition, BC is supporting IEN’s application and assessment fees which can be over $3,700. Moreover, For foreign nurses, it will offer up to $4,000 per person to cover the assessment and qualified travel expenses to travel back to work.

Manitoba

Last November, Manitoba introduced its Health Human Resource Action Plan. In addition, various steps have been taken by the government to retain, attract, and recruit nurses throughout the province.

For instance, it aimed to hire 2000 healthcare providers and invest $200 million in the healthcare sector. The province also removed the mandated overtime restriction.

Nova Scotia

Tim Houston, the Premier of Nova Scotia, on March 20, announced a bonus of $ 10,000 for the province nurses.

In addition, by the end of March 2024, nurses who sign a two-year return of service agreement will be rewarded with an extra $10,000 in the subsequent year.

On an international recruitment trip to the UK, the UAE, Singapore, and Kenya, the province of Nova Scotia also made 154 conditional offers for healthcare practitioners, including nurses.

Ontario

Last October, various changes were introduced in Ontario’s Ministry of Health, College of Nurses, and College of Physicians and Surgeons to address the high demand for nurses in the province. The following were the notable changes:

  • It enabled the IENs to enroll in a temporary class and start working quickly while their complete registration is in progress.
  • For non-practicing and retired nurses, the return to their field is made easier by introducing flexibility to the requirements. Earlier, prior to applying for reinstatement, they must have practiced nursing within a certain period.
  • For physicians from other provinces and territories, the province introduces a new temporary independent practice registration class. This enables them to practice in Ontario for up to 90 days.

Besides these, further changes were introduced by the government on January 1 this year. The following are the new rules.

  • The health regulatory colleges are required to adhere to the time limitations while making the registration decisions;
  • For registration, the health regulatory colleges are prohibited from demanding Canadian work experience from the applicants, with few exceptions. For instance, when a comparable international experience is acceptable.
  • The department is required to accept Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) approved language tests to lower the duplicate language proficiency testing for immigrants.

Effective Pathways to Immigrate to Canada as a Nurse.

There are over 100 economic immigration pathways to immigrate to Canada. But various programs are specifically available for healthcare practitioners.

As a nurse, you can immigrate to Canada via the Expres Entry programs, including the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) or the Federal Skilled Worker Program.

Nurses are also eligible for the well-known PNP program. Under PNP, provinces can select skilled workers who they believe have the potential to become economically established and who can fill the job vacancy in the provincial workforce.

The following are the streams for nurses in various provinces.

  • Ontario offers Human Capital Priorities Stream for nurses.
  • British Columbia offers a Healthcare Professional category under its Skills Immigration & Express Entry pathways for nurses.
  • Saskatchewan introduced an International Health Worker EOI pool for nurses.
  • Nova Scotia offers Labour Market Priorities Stream for nurses that occasionally hold draws.

New Brunswick offers an Internationally Educated Nurses (IEN) program for nurses who speak English or French.