Ontario is intensifying its efforts to attract internationally educated nurses to address an acute staffing shortage in its healthcare system. According to Maple News, the provincial government aims to integrate thousands of foreign-trained nursing professionals into its hospitals by March 31, 2022.
The initiative includes deploying approximately 300 internationally trained nurses to 50 high-need hospitals across the province. These nurses will work under supervision while they complete requirements for licensure through the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO). Over 1,200 candidates have already applied through the CNO, signaling strong interest in joining Ontario’s healthcare workforce.
This push is part of a broader strategy to add 6,000 healthcare workers—including nursing and medical students—to Ontario hospitals before the end of March. The move comes in response to critical capacity issues and a long-documented shortage of healthcare professionals that predates the COVID-19 pandemic.
Driven by the lessons of the pandemic, the Ontario government has launched a series of emergency measures since 2020 that have already placed more than 6,700 healthcare workers into long-term care homes and other facilities, alleviating pressure on overwhelmed hospitals.
Further supporting this effort, the provincial government committed $342 million over five years through its 2021 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review. This funding is projected to bring in more than 13,000 healthcare professionals, including over 5,000 new and upskilled nurses and 8,000 personal support workers.
“The pandemic has made it abundantly clear: we need more frontline healthcare professionals,” said Peter Bethlenfalvy, Ontario’s Minister of Finance. “That’s why investing in our healthcare capacity was a cornerstone of our Build Ontario plan.”
Internationally educated nurses have become a growing part of Ontario’s healthcare workforce. As of 2020, 12.2% of nurses registered to practice in the province were trained internationally—a significant increase from 10.3% just a decade earlier.
These measures come at a critical moment. Ontario is battling a surge in COVID-19 cases dominated by the Omicron variant, with daily averages exceeding 11,000 cases. The ongoing pressure has underscored the urgency to boost staffing levels and reinforce the healthcare system’s resilience through international recruitment and domestic training initiatives.
Maple News continues to monitor the situation as more foreign-trained nurses prepare to join the healthcare front lines in Ontario.