From doctors to nurse practitioners, health-care professionals are flocking to British Columbia by the hundreds in response to a campaign aiming to recruit Americans, according to Premier David Eby.
According to the province, 414 American health-care professionals have begun working in the province in the approximately one year since the campaign began.
The number of professionals hired in Northern BC is 30. That number includes 7 doctors, 20 nurses, and 1 nurse practitioner.
An additional 2 allied health professionals have also made the move.
The province defines the allied health category as including occupational therapists, psychologists and speech-language pathologists, among other professions.
Eby said that between March 2025 and January 2026, more than 2,750 U.S.-based health-care workers applied to work in the province.
Credential streamlining
According to Health Minister Josie Osborne, the province has changed the administrative process for U.S.-trained doctors and nurses who wish to work in B.C.
“They’re building new lives and we knew that we had to make that as smooth as possible. So, we brought together what we’re calling a ‘Team B.C.’ approach, working closely with regulatory colleges, with Health Match B.C., and health authorities to streamline credential recognition,” Osborne said.
BCNU: ‘A drop in the bucket’
The president of the B.C. Nurses’ Union welcomes the 260 American nurses who have made the move in the last year, but said there are still about 4,500 nursing vacancies across the province.
“It really is a drop in the bucket. Especially if we are going to be successful at implementing nurse-to-patient ratios in this province,” Adriane Gear said in an interview with CTV News.
That’s a commitment the B.C. government made to nurses in the last round of collective bargaining agreement negotiations.
Gear would also like to see the province focusing on recruiting locally by opening more post-secondary seats for nursing programs.
“Government’s own data indicates that they’re predicting, and I think this is before ratios, that they’re going to need to hire many, many more nurses by 2035. I believe over 30,000,” Gear said.
With files from Ben Miljure CTV News Vancouver