Act now: It’s time to fix the health workforce crisis

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.

For Canada’s health care workers, it also marks two years of worsening nurse-to-patient ratios, forced overtime, minimal workplace precautions, increased violence, and cancelled vacations. All of this has left Canada’s health care workforce hanging by a thread.

A crisis in staffing that predates the pandemic is bringing our cherished public health care system to the brink of collapse, leaving both workers and patients to suffer the consequences.

As more and more nurses and other health care workers look for the exit sign, we must invest urgently to retain them, and recruit many more to match our growing needs.

Enough is enough. We need federal leadership now to ensure the provinces and territories have the targeted resources to preserve our health care system and the workforce that sustains it.

Canada’s nurses are tired of waiting. Join us in demanding urgent action to fix the crisis.