$12.2M in funding to support international nurses practising in B.C.

B.C. is introducing several supports to make it easier for internationally educated nurses to practise in the province.

Health Minister Adrian Dix announced the changes in a news conference Tuesday. Officials called the updates "significant" with the expectation they'll become even more crucial in the years ahead as demand is outpacing supply in the province.

"It's fair to say that for internationally educated nurses it is a challenging road when you come to Canada to work or you seek work," Dix said. "The process for internationally educated nurses is complex, it's costly and it's lengthy. And that, in a time when we need nurses … is no longer acceptable."

In fact, officials said, it can take years for some fully trained international nurses to be able to work in B.C., and it can cost them thousands of dollars to register locally.

Gabriela Kosonen, educated in Finland, has first-hand experience with the process. She started in November 2020. She still isn't fully certified. Kosonen told CTV News she feels she's "not even close" to being done.

"I've spent maybe $1,500 to $2,000 at this point and the next phase is the big one -- the $3,000 fee," she explained.

Dix said depending on the situation, a nurse's wait may be cut by months or a year.

"Their value has been demonstrated and supported again and again and again. We're so proud of the work they've done," Dix said. "You know and I know that we need more nurses now, we need more nurses in five years, we need more nurses in 10 years."

The changes announced Tuesday include $12.2 million in funding for streamlined regulatory assessments, bursaries and enhanced recruitment supports.

It's expected $9 million in bursaries will support 1,500 internationally educated nurses. An individual nurse supported through the funding could receive a minimum of $1,500 and up to $16,000.

The supports come more than two years into the COVID-19 pandemic and months after health-care workers called on the province to do more to ensure international nurses can join the workforce.

Earlier this year, Emma Beaumont, a nurse trained in the United States, told CTV News Vancouver she had to wait months to be able to work in the province. Under B.C.'s current system, the process to register and be licensed in B.C. can take 18 months to two years, officials said Tuesday. 

"You're forced to just sit by and kind of watch everything implode, knowing you could do something but your hands are tied," Beaumont told CTV News in January.

"It's disheartening to have to sit on the sidelines knowing you could make a difference. Albeit a small one. But you could make a difference in this health-care crisis we are experiencing."

Kosonen told CTV she welcomed the changes, but that the process changing is the provincial one and not the national one. In November 2020 she started compiling documents and was approved in January 2022. She said the actual wait for approval was about seven months.

Dix admitted changes may be needed for the National Nursing Assessment Service portion of credentialing. The organization, based out of the United States, is where most Canadian jurisdictions send their applicants to be vetted.

"It doesn't change fundamentally the NNAS part of the process," he said, adding, "It does allow the work to be done in parallel."

Beaumont told CTV News she started working in March, nearly one year after completing a nursing program -- where she says she wrote the same exam as her Canadian counterparts.

Kosonen is still waiting.

"I'm still at it. And I will do it to the end, but at least I hope I will, anyway."