Provinces in Canada are recruiting U.S. healthcare workers to address staffing shortages, and it is proving effective. Since efforts intensified in 2025, Ontario has recruited 2,300 nurses and up to 570 health professionals in British Columbia. Registered nurse Shane Tyson moved from Minnesota after concerns about immigration policies and patient care, securing a position in Nanaimo, B.C., within three months. Provinces are employing fast-track licensing processes for these recruits, who bring valuable experience from major U.S. hospitals.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-13,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Provinces are turning to U.S. health-care workers to help with shortages.
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And it’s working
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Recruitment can help fill gaps, but experts say Canada needs to do more to retain its own health-care workers
Registered nurse Shane Tyson was done with the U.S.
He was working in Minnesota at the not-for-profit Mayo Clinic Health System and the Olmsted Medical Center.
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But in 2025, Tyson says he became increasingly concerned about the deterioration of health care, as well as tighter immigration enforcement.
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Then ICE agents arrested a patient as they were leaving a primary care appointment where he worked, Tyson says.
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“That was definitely a wake-up call," he said.
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"And I am married to a U.S. permanent resident that was born in Bolivia … and it scared the crap out of me for him and for the others in that situation,” Tyson told Dr. Brian Goldman, host of CBC’s White Coat, Black Art.
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Tyson says he’d been noticing Facebook ads from provincial recruitment service HealthMatch BC.
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The more he researched, the more he contemplated a move north.
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So he registered, got interviews with two B.C. health authorities, and received two job offers within a week.
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Tyson is one of many health-care professionals making the move from the U.S.
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With shortages of nurses, physicians and other health workers, some provinces are actively recruiting U.S. health-care professionals — and they’re getting results.
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CBC reached out to health ministries in all 10 provinces for data on health-care professionals recruited from the U.S. since efforts ramped up in 2025.
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The number of doctors recruited ranged from three in Saskatchewan to 33 in Nova Scotia and 570 in Ontario.
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Ontario also recruited 2,300 nurses in 2025, while, all told, more than 580 health-care professionals accepted jobs in B.C. since March 2025.
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For Tyson, the targeted recruitment worked.
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It took him just three months to get his B.C. nursing licence through a fast-track process, and eight days to receive a provincial nomination for permanent residence.
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Since January, he’s been working in the emergency department of Nanaimo Regional General Hospital (NRGH) on Vancouver Island.
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Tyson says he’s pleased with the community, the weather, and what he sees as more inclusive health care.
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, you have equal access to care in Canada,” he said.
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Health-care workers are bringing experience and ideas from some of the largest hospitals in the U.S., says Damian Lange, executive director of clinical services at NRGH.
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“The American system has significant talent,” Lange said.
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He said Island Health started recruiting from the U.S. in April 2025.
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Since then, it has hired 76 physicians and 102 nurses — 31 of them at NRGH.
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He said another 87 U.S. health-care providers will hopefully join by year’s end.
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Lange said the new recruits make for a “better staff experience ... better patient experience, improved quality care, improved access to care.
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And so it's been a real benefit as we close the gap there with our vacancy rates.”
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Even with the new hires, Lange said Island Health still has a 15 per cent vacancy rate for nurses.
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And recruiting U.S. health-care workers is only part of the equation.
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A lot of questions go along with an international move.
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Volunteers helping ease the move north
Tod Maffin and his wife, Jocelyn Maffin, are helping pave the way with an online community they started in early 2025.
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Tod is a digital strategist and former CBC journalist, and Jocelyn works with Spinal Cord Injury BC.
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It started with Tod’s invitation to Americans to visit Nanaimo last year.
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So many health-care workers interested in moving to Canada came that Maffin made a Discord channel where people can chat and ask questions about everything from health-care licensing to real estate to services for autistic children.
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Tod said it’s about connecting people.
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“If you're an ER nurse in Dallas and you're ready … to move into Canada, you've figured out which area you're going to go to, but you have a trans kid and you just need to talk the parent of another trans kid in that community to make sure that your daughter is going to be OK,” you can find that support in the Discord group, he said.
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It includes out-of-area health-care workers (mostly Americans), recruiters, immigration consultants and local citizens who just want to help out.
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Of around 1,200 current users, 84 have recently accepted job offers.
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Tod created a template for other Healthcare Infusion communities and there are now 45 of them across Canada.
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Jocelyn said she initially worried about poaching health-care workers from the U.S., but: “Canada has dealt with brain drain to the U.S. for years and that's always been a big issue,” she said.
“
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…and 15 more, not listed.
