Analysis: Quebec seeks nurses from overseas. But will they stay?

Despite the failure of its efforts to recruit hundreds of health-care professionals from overseas, the Quebec government is looking abroad to make good on the province’s shortage of nurses.

If the past is any indicator, the chances are slim that thousands of caregivers will come flocking. Liberal health critic André Fortin is urging the Coalition Avenir Québec government to act quickly to determine why its recruitment campaign has fallen short — and correct whatever problems are found.

“We can’t make the same mistakes a second time,” he warned.

As of Dec. 17 the health network was in need of 3,871 nurses and 1,708 auxiliary nurses, the government says. Health Minister Christian Dubé has touted overseas recruitment as a means of filling that gap. However, figures obtained by the Presse Canadienne through access-to-information laws indicate Quebec has managed to attract between 359 to 399 nurses annually over the past five years.

Between Sept. 1 and Jan. 20, 145 nurses were added to the system by Recrutement Santé Québec, which has been tasked with “the recruitment, reception and integration of health professionals with degrees outside of Canada and a mastery of French.”

Most of the candidates came from France, Belgium, Morocco, Cameroon, Tunisia, Lebanon and Benin.

Once recruited, however, those nurses must be convinced to stay — and that  prospect is far from guaranteed, says the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ), a 80,000-member union that includes many of the province’s nursing professionals.

“We can’t go get nurses overseas and bring them here under current conditions,” said FIQ president Julie Bouchard, citing the current workloads, patient-nurse ratios and the issue of mandatory overtime.

Bouchard argues the government must take each step in the process “correctly” before the recruits arrive in Quebec.

“Improve work conditions, stabilize care teams, adopt a law on ratios, create a workplace plan — and then we’ll know how many nurses are needed.”

Sylvain Brousseau, president of the Association des infirmières et infirmiers du Canada (AIIC),  agrees: “Going to get people overseas is not a solution because (under current conditions) they won’t stay either.

“We have to ask ourselves the question ‘why?’. It’s the work environment that requires radical change to make it more human.”

Be they immigrants or from Quebec, nurses are looking to improve their lot.

Dubé’s office maintains “overseas recruitment is one of the solutions to find more personnel for our health network” and the minister has said he intends to make that network “an employer of choice.”

The FIQ’s Bouchard says the solution is simple enough — it’s time to improve the working conditions of health care professionals.

“If we improve conditions in a major way with better salaries, there will be a pendulum effect and it’s then the government can say it has become an employer of choice.”

Québec solidaire health critic Vincent Marissal also fears current work conditions would see potential candidates take a pass on coming to Quebec.

“If you’re a French or Senegalese nurse and you do a Google search (with the key words) health, Quebec and hospitals, there’s enough news there to worry you or even scare you.”

In February 2022, then immigration minister Jean Boulet, accompanied by Dubé, announced $65 million would be spent over two years to attract 1,000 nurses from overseas.

That project seems to be showing promise, with Health Ministry figures reporting 1,533 candidates have been recruited thus far. These candidates are required to “take the refresher training prescribed by the Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec (OIIQ)” and pass an admission to the profession exam to obtain their right to practise.

OIIQ president Luc Mathieu said the process of recognizing professional competences has greatly improved thanks to a partnership with the Immigration Ministry. But he added some countries facing their own personnel shortages are trying to stall an exodus of nurses by refusing to provide certain documents or letting the process drag on.

Brousseau of the AIIC raises the ethical issue of recruiting from countries where local health care networks are already weakened.

“If people come on their own, I have no problem with that,” he said. “But if we’re recruiting from countries that have their own shortages, then I have a problem.”

Taking a more down to earth view, the FIQ’s Bouchard notes Quebec might not in fact be ready to welcome a large number of new arrivals, and the shortages the province is dealing with aren’t exclusive to the labour force, but also in housing and daycare services.

The health content produced by the Presse Canadienne receives funding through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. The Presse Canadienne is solely responsible for its editorial choices.

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