March 14, 2024 | Ottawa, Ontario | Health Canada

Today, MP Yasir Naqvi, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health, on behalf of the Honorable Mark Holland, Minister of Health, announced additional funding of over $388,000 for the National Care Residency Program nurses of the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN).

As the largest group of regulated health care professionals in Canada, with more than 450,000 members, nurses are essential to Canada’s health care system. Nurses are facing unprecedented challenges that impact their work and the patients they care for. It is important that we support Canada’s health-care workers and that more workers enter the health-care system more quickly.

This investment will support the integration of internationally educated nurses (IENs) into Canada’s health care system. Through initiatives such as an IEN mentoring pilot program, this will provide health care organizations, nurses working with IENs, and newly hired IENs with the support and tools needed to build health care teams more solid. This funding will also support workshops and training for IENs entering the Canadian nursing workforce and their mentors to provide IENs with the support they need to effectively integrate into the Canadian workforce of health.

This is in addition to $2.4 million in funding from the Government of Canada for CASN announced in April 2023 to support the implementation and evaluation of a national nursing residency program to support registered nurses (RN) new graduates by helping them effectively manage the transition from the classroom to the workplace. .

The Government of Canada recently announced the publication of Nurse Retention Toolkit: Improving the Working Lives of Nurses in Canada, which is a resource created by nurses, for nurses, to help employers and health authorities across the country improve nurse retention. This is part of the government’s overall efforts to support all health workers, including IENs, across the country.

The Government of Canada is working with provinces, territories and key nursing partners to identify and implement solutions so that nurses across Canada can continue their essential work to ensure the health and safety of Canadians.