Today, MP Yasir Naqvi, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health, on behalf of the Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health, announced more than $388,000 in additional funding towards the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing's (CASN) National Nurse Residency Program.
As Canada's largest group of regulated health professionals with more than 450,000 members, nurses are critical to Canada's health care system. Nurses are facing unprecedented challenges that affect their work and the patients they care for. It is important we support Canada's health workers and get more workers into the health care system, faster.
This investment will support the integration of Internationally Educated Nurses (IENs) into Canada's health care system. Through initiatives such as a pilot IEN mentorship program, this will provide health care organizations, staff nurses working with IENs, and newly hired IENs with the support and tools needed to build stronger health care teams. This funding will also support workshops and training for IENs entering the Canadian nursing workforce and their mentors to provide IENs with the support they need to integrate effectively into the Canadian health workforce.
This is in addition to $2.4 million in Government of Canada funding for CASN announced in April 2023 to support the implementation and evaluation of a National Nurse Residency Program to support newly graduated registered nurses (RNs) by helping them effectively manage the transition from classroom to workplace.
The Government of Canada recently announced the release of the Nursing Retention Toolkit: Improving the Working Lives of Nurses in Canada, which is a resource created by nurses for nurses, to help employers and health authorities across the country improve nursing retention. This is one piece of the Government's overall efforts to support all health workers, including IENs, right across the country.
The Government of Canada is working with provinces, territories, and key nursing partners to identify and implement solutions so that nurses across Canada can continue their critical work to keep Canadians healthy and safe.
