U.S. nurses select Canada over the U.S. beneath Trump : NPR

Final month, Justin and Amy Miller packed their automobiles with three children, two canine, a pet bearded dragon, and no matter belongings they may match, then drove 2,000 miles from Wisconsin to British Columbia to depart President Trump’s America.

The Millers resettled on Vancouver Island, their scenic refuge accessible solely by ferry or aircraft. Justin went to work within the emergency room at Nanaimo Regional Common Hospital, the place he turned one among a minimum of 20 U.S.-trained nurses employed since April.

Trump, a number of the nurses stated, was why they left.

“There are such a lot of like-minded individuals on the market,” stated Justin, who now works elbow to elbow with Individuals in Canada. “You are not trapped. You do not have to remain. Well being care staff are welcomed with open arms around the globe.”

The Millers are a part of a brand new surge of American nurses, docs, and different well being care staff transferring to Canada, and particularly British Columbia, the place greater than 1,000 U.S.-trained nurses have been permitted to work since April.

Many nurses have felt the draw of Canada’s progressive politics, pleasant popularity, and common well being care system, which stands in distinction to what they see as authoritarian insurance policies beneath Trump together with deep cuts to funding for public well being, insurance coverage, and medical analysis.

Moreover, some nurses have been incensed final yr when the Trump administration stated it could reclassify nursing as a nonprofessional diploma, which might impose strict federal limits on the loans nursing college students might obtain.

Canada is poised to capitalize. Two of its most populous provinces, Ontario and British Columbia, have streamlined the licensing course of for American nurses since Trump returned to the White Home. British Columbia additionally launched a $5 million promoting marketing campaign final yr to recruit nurses from California, Oregon, and Washington state.

“With the chaos and uncertainty taking place within the U.S., we’re seizing the chance to draw the expertise we’d like,” Josie Osborne, the province’s well being minister, stated in a press release saying the marketing campaign.

Fears realized

Amy Miller, a nurse practitioner, stated she and her husband have been decided to maneuver their youngsters in another country as a result of they felt Trump’s second time period would inevitably spiral into violence.

First, the Millers bought nursing licenses in New Zealand, however when the job search took too lengthy, they pivoted to Canada.

Justin was provided a job inside weeks.

Amy discovered one inside three months.

So that they moved. And just some days later, the Millers watched with horror from afar as their fears got here true.

As federal immigration forces clashed with protesters in Minneapolis on Jan. 24, federal brokers fatally shot an ICU nurse, Alex Pretti, as he filmed a confrontation and seemed to be making an attempt to protect a girl who was knocked down. Video of the killing confirmed border brokers pinning Pretti to the bottom earlier than seizing his hid, licensed handgun after which opening fireplace on him.

The Trump administration rapidly known as Pretti a “home terrorist” who supposed to kill federal brokers. That allegation was disputed by eyewitness movies that circulated on social media and spurred widespread outrage, together with from nurses and nursing organizations, a few of whom invoked the career’s obligation to look after the weak.

“I do not need to say it was anticipated, however that is why we’re right here,” Amy Miller stated. “Even our oldest child, she was like: ‘It is OK, Mother, as a result of we’re not there anymore. We’re secure right here.’ So she acknowledges that, and he or she’s not even in center college but.”

Each the U.S. and Canada have a extreme want for nurses. The U.S. is projected to be brief about 270,000 registered nurses, plus a minimum of 120,000 licensed sensible nurses, by 2028, in accordance with current estimates from the Well being Assets and Providers Administration. In Canada, nursing job vacancies tripled from 2018 to 2023, after they reached practically 42,000, in accordance with a current report from the Montreal Financial Institute, a Canadian assume tank.

When requested to remark, the White Home famous that trade information reveals the variety of nurses licensed within the U.S. elevated in 2025. It dismissed accounts of nurses transferring to Canada as “anecdotes of people with extreme instances of Trump derangement syndrome.”

“The American well being care workforce is the best on the planet, and it continues to increase beneath President Trump,” White Home spokesperson Kush Desai stated. “Employment alternatives within the American well being care system stay sturdy, with profession development and pay that far exceed that of different developed nations.”

‘A way of aid’

It’s unknown exactly what number of American nurses have moved north since Trump returned to workplace, as a result of some Canadian provinces don’t observe or launch such statistics.

British Columbia, which has performed essentially the most to recruit Individuals, permitted the licensing purposes of 1,028 U.S.-trained nurses from when the province’s streamlined software course of took impact in April 2025 by way of January, in accordance with the British Columbia School of Nurses and Midwives. In all of 2023 solely 112 candidates from the U.S. have been permitted, the company stated. In 2024, it was 127.

Elevated curiosity from American nurses was additionally confirmed by nursing associations in Ontario and Alberta, in addition to by the nationwide Canadian Nurses Affiliation.

Angela Wignall, CEO of Nurses and Nurse Practitioners of British Columbia, stated American nurses used to maneuver north as a result of they’d fallen in love with Canada (or a Canadian). However extra just lately, she stated, she had met nurses who feared the White Home would spur violence and vigilantism, significantly in opposition to households that included same-sex {couples}.

“A few of them have been dwelling in concern of the administration, they usually shared a way of aid when crossing the border,” Wignall stated. “As a Canadian, it is heartbreaking. And likewise a pleasure to welcome them.”

Vancouver Island, which has a inhabitants of about 860,000, has gained 64 U.S.-trained nurses since April, together with these at Nanaimo Regional, stated Andrew Leyne, a spokesperson for the island’s well being company.

One of many nurses was Susan Fleishman, a Canadian who moved to the U.S. as a toddler, then labored for 23 years in American emergency rooms earlier than leaving the nation in November.

Fleishman stated hateful rhetoric from Trump has fueled an offended division that has permeated and soured American life.

“It wasn’t a straightforward transfer — that is for positive. However I feel it is positively value it,” she stated, fortunately again in Canada. “I discover there may be much more kindness right here. And I feel that can maintain me right here.”

Brandy Frye, an American nurse who additionally labored for many years in ERs, stated she moved to Vancouver Island final yr after ready to see whether or not Mark Carney would turn out to be Canada’s prime minister. Carney’s rise was broadly considered as a rejection of Trumpism.

In the meantime, Frye stated, the California hospital the place she labored had been stripping phrases related to range and fairness out of its paperwork to appease the Trump administration. She could not stand it.

“It felt like a step in opposition to every thing I imagine in,” Frye stated. “And I did not really feel like I belonged there anymore.”

Like lots of the American nurses who’ve moved to Vancouver Island, Frye was first wooed to the world by a viral video that was meant to draw vacationer {dollars} however ended up doing rather more.

A few yr in the past, Tod Maffin, a social media content material creator and former CBC Radio host, invited Individuals to the port metropolis of Nanaimo for a weekend occasion designed to offset the affect of Trump’s tariffs on the native financial system.

Maffin stated about 350 individuals attended the April occasion.

“Numerous them have been well being care staff in search of an escape route,” Maffin stated. “They have been there to assist help our financial system but additionally to look into Canada.”

Maffin noticed a chance. He repurposed the occasion web site right into a recruiting instrument and launched a Discord chatroom to assist Individuals relocate.

Maffin stated he believes the marketing campaign helped about 35 well being care staff transfer to Vancouver Island. Volunteers in greater than 30 different Canadian communities have since duplicated his web site in an effort to draw their very own American nurses and docs.

“There are communities throughout Canada the place the emergency room closes at evening as a result of one nurse is out. That is how skinny staffing is,” Maffin stated.

“One new nurse in a small city, or in a midsized metropolis like Nanaimo,” he stated, “makes a distinction.”

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