The number of Canadian nurses getting the paperwork required to work in the United States has more than doubled to almost 1,700 in the last five years, contributing to a staffing shortage that is a major factor behind closed emergency rooms and hospital wards, according to numbers obtained by CTV News Investigates.
More nurses, frustrated with a legislated wage cap in Ontario, are being lured to facilities in the U.S. with higher wages, perks and bonuses that some say they can’t get at home, with many getting snapped up in an international competition for health-care workers that are comparatively scarce because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Even the full-time permanent roles are paying a good $15-$20 more than what you would make in Canada, and then the sign-on bonuses, $10,000, $20,000, assistance with housing and relocation — all of that is typically part of the package,” said Samantha White with Intellistaff, a Toronto recruitment firm.
White said she has seen a major increase in Ontario nurses looking to move south in the last two years, especially since the passing of Bill 124, a law that limits wage growth in the public sector to one per cent a year for three years.
“It’s a lot more lucrative than it is up here in Canada, specifically Ontario, where you’ve seen the rates not go up because of Bill 124,” White said. “It’s definitely been rising over the last two years for sure.”
NURSES CITE STRESS, PAY AS A REASON FOR LEAVING
A part of this exodus is Emily Pyke, an ER nurse in Toronto, en route to Florida after what she described as a year of stressful shifts and unsafe patient ratios, caring for as many as six patients at one time.
Pyke says she’s emotionally drained and worried about being put in a position where a patient could have a negative outcome.
“As a nurse, you go into the profession, you want to help people. You want to make a difference and sometimes you feel like with such lack of resources and everything, you’re not able to do your job the way you want to even though everyday you’re trying 110 per cent,” she said.
“With cost of living, all of that, it’s impossible to continue to work with such a wage,” Pyke said.
ER Nurse Emily Pyke speaks to CTV News Toronto Investigates about Ontario’s nursing shortage.
Damilola Ola-Adigun, a NICU nurse who previously worked in Toronto, told CTV News she now works in Syracuse, New York.
Ola-Adigun said she didn’t realize how strained Ontario’s health care was until she worked in the U.S.
“Everyday you go to work, you’re working understaffed, your license is on the line,” Ola-Adigun told CTV News in an interview.
“In America, there’s a lot more support and incentive. They understand that you have a life, you have kids, and that’s the biggest benefit,” she said.
“I was mind-blown by the amount these nurses are allotted to come into work when they’re not supposed to. It shows the respect they have for them. I’ve never seen that in Ontario. I’ve never seen that in Toronto. You want me to come back? There’s no way,” she said.
U.S. AGENCY TRACKS CANADIAN FIGURES
CTV News Investigates asked several health-care organizations, regulators and government bodies in Ontario how many nurses had left the province, but none were able to provide detailed figures. The U.S. state department did not provide a breakdown of workers coming in under a free-trade agreement.
But the U.S.-based Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS), a not-for-profit organization, does keep track of the number of nurses applying to transfer their credentials as they get visas to work in the U.S.
CTV News requested data from CGFNS, revealing 801 Canadian nurses applied to transfer their credentials to the U.S. in 2018, rising to more than 1,300 in 2019. The numbers dropped in the pandemic, hitting 947, but started rising again to almost 1,700 in 2022 with the year not out.
Frank Mortimer of CGFNS said the number of Canadian nurses approved to work in the U.S. has doubled over the last five years and could be at an all-time high.
“The pattern that we’re seeing is that it’s increasing year-over-year,” Mortimer said. “I think the opportunity and the financial rewards of migrating is probably the driving factor.”
Statistics provided by the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) show Canadian nurses are leaving for the U.S. in droves.
6,000 MORE HEALTH-CARE WORKERS
Ontario’s Ministry of Health told CTV News in a statement its retention plan includes 6,000 more health-care workers, $34 million to increase enrolment in nursing programs, and international recruiting.
“Over 1,000 internationally educated nurses have been deployed to hospitals across Ontario to gain the language and practice experience they need to become practising nurses in Ontario,” says the statement.
Paying nurses more to retain them amid the international competition for workers was not mentioned in the statement.
Some recent nursing graduates are already thinking of leaving, said Pyke, meaning that the lure of the U.S. could undermine some of these measures.
“A lot of the new grads who are just starting are leaving right away,” she said.
A registered nurse takes a moment to look outside while attending to a ventilated COVID-19 patient in the intensive care unit at the Humber River Hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto on Tuesday, January 25, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
BILL 124 FACES COURT CHALLENGE
A coalition of some 40 Ontario unions has taken the Ontario government to court over the wage cap, arguing that it infringes on a union’s constitutional right around collective bargaining.
Projections released by the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario estimate that if a court ruled the law unconstitutional, the cost to the province would be $8.4 billion.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
