Then ICE agents arrested a patient as they were leaving a primary care appointment where he worked, Tyson says. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat was definitely a wake-up call,” he said. “And I am married to a U.S. permanent resident that was born in Bolivia \u2026 and it scared the crap out of me for him and for the others in that situation,\u201d Tyson told Dr. Brian Goldman, host of CBC\u2019s White Coat, Black Art<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tyson says he\u2019d been noticing Facebook ads from provincial recruitment service HealthMatch BC<\/a>. The more he researched, the more he contemplated a move north. So he registered, got interviews with two B.C. health authorities, and received two job offers within a week.<\/p>\n Tyson is one of many health-care professionals making the move from the U.S. With shortages of nurses<\/a>, physicians<\/a> and other health workers, some provinces are actively recruiting U.S. health-care professionals \u2014 and they\u2019re getting results.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The number of doctors recruited ranged from three in Saskatchewan to 33 in Nova Scotia and 570 in Ontario.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n For Tyson, the targeted recruitment worked. It took him just three months to get his B.C. nursing licence through a fast-track<\/a> process, and eight days to receive a provincial nomination for permanent residence<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since January, he\u2019s been working in the emergency department of Nanaimo Regional General Hospital (NRGH) on Vancouver Island. Tyson says he\u2019s pleased with the community, the weather, and what he sees as more inclusive health care.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s not the insurance companies and corporate health-care companies taking billions of dollars. The patient is the focus here and whether you’re the unhoused or the banker or lawyer, you have equal access to care in Canada,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe American system has significant talent,\u201d Lange said.<\/p>\n He said Island Health<\/a> started recruiting from the U.S. in April 2025. Since then, it has hired 76 physicians and 102 nurses \u2014 31 of them at NRGH. He said another 87 U.S. health-care providers will hopefully join by year\u2019s end.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lange said the new recruits make for a \u201cbetter staff experience … better patient experience, improved quality care, improved access to care. And so it’s been a real benefit as we close the gap there with our vacancy rates.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Even with the new hires, Lange said Island Health still has a 15 per cent vacancy rate for nurses.<\/p>\n And recruiting U.S. health-care workers is only part of the equation. A lot of questions go along with an international move.<\/p>\n Volunteers helping ease the move north<\/p>\n Tod Maffin and his wife, Jocelyn Maffin, are helping pave the way with an online community they started in early 2025. Tod is a digital strategist and former CBC journalist, and Jocelyn works with Spinal Cord Injury BC.<\/p>\n It started with Tod\u2019s invitation to Americans<\/a> to visit Nanaimo<\/a> last year. 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.<\/p>\n Tod said it\u2019s about connecting people.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you’re an ER nurse in Dallas and you’re ready \u2026 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,\u201d you can find that support in the Discord group, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n It includes out-of-area health-care workers (mostly Americans), recruiters, immigration consultants and local citizens who just want to help out. Of around 1,200 current users, 84 have recently accepted job offers.<\/p>\n Tod created a template for other Healthcare Infusion communities and there are now 45 of them across Canada<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jocelyn said she initially worried about poaching health-care workers from the U.S., but: \u201cCanada has dealt with brain drain to the U.S. for years and that’s always been a big issue,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo maybe we’re just borrowing them back.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Call for better retention \u00a0<\/p>\n In an email to CBC, the Canadian Medical Association said that with a shortage of more than 23,000 family doctors, Canada needs to remove barriers to immigration and licensing for internationally trained physicians. It also needs to make it easier for those currently practising in Canada to stay, the association said.<\/p>\n Canadian Nurses Association CEO Valerie Grdisa emphasized the need to retain the nurses Canada already has.<\/p>\n \u201cWe welcome U.S.-educated nurses into the nation, but we don’t see it really as a long-term recruitment strategy,\u201d she said. \u201cWe really have to get back [to] what matters to Canadian and domestically educated nurses.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789300810_986_default.jpg\")
Damian Lange, executive director of clinical services at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, says filling some of the health region’s vacant positions with recruits from the U.S. has made things better for patients and staff alike. (Brian Goldman\/CBC)The recruitment push\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789300811_701_default.jpg\")
Tod Maffin and his wife, Jocelyn, run the Healthcare Infusion project together, and say they are seeing success across the country. (Tod Maffin\/Hey.Caf\u00e9)<\/p>\n
![\"Man](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789300811_741_default.jpg\")
Shane Tyson recently received his certificate of Canadian citizenship. (Brian Goldman\/CBC)<\/p>\n