Quebec’s desire to recruit at least 3,500 nurses trained abroad would not necessarily be a guarantee of short-term success. It could indeed take at least two to three years before these nurses can really relieve the health system.
Whether at the stage of recognition of their diplomas by the Order of Nurses, the French exam or obtaining immigration documents, many pitfalls arise before the will of the Ministry of Health. and Social Services (MSSS).
28 health establishments, mainly CISSS and CIUSSS, have given mandates to recruit a total of approximately 3,500 nurses to Recrutement Santé Québec, a service of the MSSS. This ministry is still examining “the feasibility” of such an approach, admits a public relations officer.
Already, the stage of recognizing the equivalence of a nursing diploma can look like an obstacle course. Only 45 to 55% of the files filed with the Order of Nurses of Quebec (OIIQ) are complete, we told the To have to. When the file is complete, the Order takes two to three months to process. Currently, the OIIQ calculates that 40 to 50 files will be processed within this period. A volume of 3,500 people is therefore much higher: it is in fact the equivalent of the annual number of new license holders, according to the annual report.
In the province, more than 7.4% of all nurses currently in practice have already been trained outside Quebec.
Viviana Riaño, a nurse of Colombian origin who arrived in 2015, says it took her almost three years from arriving until the day she finally put on her uniform, despite a decade of experience.
With the exception of French women, who benefit from a special agreement, all nurses graduated abroad must indeed follow a professional integration program after their accepted diploma equivalence. Most often, this training lasts 8 to 14 months.
For Ms. Riaño, it is therefore obvious that the arrival of immigrant nurses “is not a short-term solution”. Without forgetting the quality of the skills, the Order could demonstrate “a little more flexibility” and an individualized evaluation of the courses, she said.
Other stages, other deadlines
To the professional recognition deadlines we must also add those of immigration: “Usually, a person who is recruited and who obtains a closed temporary work permit can expect to arrive in Quebec in 10 to 12 months”, writes the MSSS. to To have to.
Johana Botero, also from Colombia, had instead chosen to arrive directly with her permanent resident card in her pocket, which she recommends to the 33,000 people who follow her on her Facebook page “Enfermeras profesionales en Canada”.
It must be said that at the time, Quebec gave priority to nurses through its skilled worker program. Thus, despite “the best circumstances”, it will have taken him two years before really integrating into his profession.
She welcomes the desire to recruit abroad, but the way to go about it is not the right one according to her: “It is a gateway with too many procedures and which is expensive, which the government currently offers, ”she laments. The lady suggests creating a pilot program, or even letting nurses with experience start directly with a clinical internship in a hospital, which is already the case for a small minority of them.
The French exam also represents a very real barrier for many. Francophones and non-Francophones alike, people trained abroad must pass a mandatory examination for professional orders administered by the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF).
These are 60% of the candidates who failed this exam in the last year, indicated to the To have to the OQLF. Candidates with a temporary license to practice “have four years to learn French while having the right to exercise their profession”, qualifies a public relations officer from the Office.
The precariousness of temporary work
To these twelve works of Asterix is added for many nurses another weight which lasts several years: that of the temporary migratory status.
This precariousness, Sabrina, who keeps her last name so as not to harm her migratory file, has lived it for years. Arrived in Canada in 2018 with her husband and two children, this French nurse from the Quebec City region is still awaiting a response from the federal government to her application for permanent residence filed in July 2019. “A month later, I received a acknowledgment of receipt, but since then it has been total silence, ”she laments.
“It’s all well and good to look for nurses in Europe, but it will be complicated”, also affirms Marie Ventura, a nurse of French origin who has been practicing in Sherbrooke since 2015. She criticizes in particular Recrutement Santé Québec for having ignored this temporary aspect of immigration: “We were told that we would quickly have our permanent residence if we wanted to. “
Six years later, she calculates that her family spent almost $ 10,000 between renewing five work permits and applying for permanent residence. Not to mention all the tedious procedures that eat into his schedule – in addition to overtime – such as having to renew the health insurance cards of four people with each new work permit. “It’s a lot of stress, even when we want to do our job. During the pandemic, our status did not allow us to receive family due to travel restrictions. Yet we work and live like everyone else, ”she sighs.
Nurses who have families will not quit their jobs to come here if they are not promised a certain stability. In fact, [le gouvernement Legault] uses us.
Ms. Ventura also knows French colleagues who arrived in 2015 and 2016 who regretted their choice for these reasons and returned to France. An observation shared by Thibault Camara, from the organization Le Québec c’est nous aussi. “Word of mouth is happening and the Caquista anti-immigration policies are doing nothing to attract more nurses. We are not able to treat them well, ”he said.
The current government has limited the number of permanent residents to such an extent that over 50,000 cases are said to be “stuck” in the backlog. At this rate, it will take at least two years for them to be fully residents of Quebec. “The government will only go ‘patch’ with more precarious workers,” says Camara.
“Nurses who have families, they will not quit their jobs to come here if we do not promise them a certain stability”, also emphasizes Sabrina. For her, the Legault government relies too much on temporary immigration. “He’s actually using us,” she says.