BURNABY - With ongoing health care staffing shortages across British Columbia, the Hospital Employees’ Union (HEU) is urging the federal government to revise its Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) to prevent the loss of critical support service workers in B.C. hospitals.
“Changes in 2024 to the provincial nominee program by Ottawa are effectively abandoning thousands of health care workers when we need them the most,” says Lynn Bueckert, HEU secretary-business manager. “We are calling on the federal government to take immediate steps to keep these much-needed health care workers in B.C. before any more workers are deported.”
The provincial nominee program was designed to attract immigrant workers who want to become permanent residents of Canada and have the skills, education and work experience to contribute to the economy of a specific province or territory.
Since 2022, large numbers of B.C. health care workers here on visas were accepted into the program. However, changes last year to the PNP’s selection criteria along with federal cuts to immigration targets have reduced the number of program spaces in British Columbia from 8,000 to 4,000 in 2025.
“With fewer spaces available, hundreds of experienced health care workers – including care aides, housekeepers, dietary aides, and clerical staff – are now at risk of deportation annually for the next several years,” says Bueckert. “These workers provide and support direct care for patients, or clean and serve food in our hospitals but currently are on visas and need this program to stay working in Canada.”
“In Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal, over 500 HEU members in health care support services face deportation this year, if they can’t access spaces in the provincial nominee program,” says Bueckert. “We must retain experienced workers who have shown their commitment to our health care system, as B.C. hospitals can’t deliver services without enough staff.”