Internationally educated nurses can now work in Canada without much hassle. Additionally, British Columbia and Ontario are currently working toward providing a clear path for them to work in the country. British Columbia has decided to remove certain barriers to registering with them. Moreover, the province will not remove the application fee but also financially assist these nurses if they plan to resume their practice after a period of absence.
Next, the province claims it would cover the expense of application and assessment for internationally educated nurses. However, this might cost around $3,700. Besides this, the province will also offer up to $4,000 to each person. This cost will cover the traveling expense and other assessments for the nurses seeking to resume their practice after a gap.
Premier David Eby claims that assisting nurses is the chief factor in providing proper healthcare facilities to B.C. individuals. However, the demand for nurses exceeds the supply. Also, the registration process for these nurses is pretty complicated and expensive. Consequently, this factor has made it nearly impossible for these skilled and talented nurses to practice in British Columbia.
Irrespective of whether the nurses have acquired training within or outside the province, provinces will welcome the healthcare employees if they are willing to provide quality care to people in B.C.
B.C. government’s measures for internationally educated nurses
The government of British Columbia recently declared its investment of $12 million (as bursaries) for the nurses earlier in April 2022. After this funding announcement, around 5,000 individuals have displayed an interest in nursing in this province. Out of these 5,000 people, about 2,000 are already on their way to completing the registration and evaluation process.
On the whole, British Columbia received over 90 percent of nursing applications under the BC College of Nurses and Midwives in 2022. These applications came in only because of the above changes.
Ontario attempts to retain internationally educated nurses
Last year in October, Ontario made notable attempts to make the path smoother for foreign-educated nurses. Moreover, several changes occurred this month last year in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, the Ontario Ministry of Health, and the College of Nurses of Ontario.
The following changes took place in the above institutions:
- Providing permission to these nurses (with international education) to work sooner under the temporary class while they complete their registration process.
- Making the requirement convenient for those nurses who would like to practice nursing after a period of the gap. They will have increased flexibility within the specific period before applying for work again.
- Developing an independent registration class on a temporary basis for provincial or territorial physicians. Moreover, this will enable them to continue working in Ontario for up to 90 days.
However, these above measures were only the foundation for more government initiatives in the long run. The rest of the steps came into existence on January 1, 2023. These initiatives will further positively impact the registration process, making it work faster. The new measures are as follows:
- The need for regulatory health colleges to adhere strictly to the decided timelines for making the registration decisions.
- Preventing these health colleges from demanding Canadian work experience for registration purposes. However, there are a few exceptions, like the acceptance of equivalent international experience.
- Acceptance of approved language tests under the IRPA. As a result, they can avoid duplicate language skill testing for Canadian immigrants.
Other initiatives by Ontario
Ontario supported more than 800 nurses with international education between January and October. The province supported this by extending the supervised practice experience partnership program funding. Moreover, the province is optimistic about this figure increasing to 1,000 toward the latter part of 2023.
Like British Columbia, Ontario is also looking forward to covering application and evaluation expenses for Ontario’s College of Nurses, which might rise to $1,500. Lastly, Ontario made a massive investment of $764 million to provide these nurses with around $5,000 as an incentive to remain in the province.
Canada’s efforts to invite healthcare workers
The Canadian healthcare system is experiencing significant challenges due to numerous factors like an aging population. Furthermore, this implies an increasing number of individuals in the country seeking healthcare facilities. Moreover, most people in this sector are also reaching their retirement age.
A recent report by the Canadian Federation of Nurses Union claims that the country has been undergoing severe challenges for quite some time. The report also claims that these challenges occurred before the pandemic broke out.
However, during the pandemic, several healthcare workers unexpectedly worked for more hours without even getting proper rest. As a result, most workers in this sector have willingly left work or taken extended leaves to care for their mental health.
Unfortunately, in October 2022, the healthcare sector witnessed around 151,200 vacant job openings. This figure remains the highest among all other work sectors, with only a slight reduction from the previous record of 152,800 job vacancies. Even the December data displays a clear need for more healthcare and social assistance workers as it is witnessing a steady decline in employment.
Overall, Ontario is experiencing an all-time high number of job losses.
