Nurses Brandy Frye (left) and Susan Fleishman work the evening shift at Nanaimo Regional Normal Hospital in British Columbia. Each stated they left their longtime U.S. jobs final 12 months to get away from the insurance policies and hateful rhetoric of President Trump.
Taylor Pradine/KFF Well being Information
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Taylor Pradine/KFF Well being Information
Final month, Justin and Amy Miller packed their automobiles with three children, two canine, a pet bearded dragon, and no matter belongings they might match, then drove 2,000 miles from Wisconsin to British Columbia to depart President Trump’s America.
The Millers resettled on Vancouver Island, their scenic refuge accessible solely by ferry or airplane. Justin went to work within the emergency room at Nanaimo Regional Normal Hospital, the place he grew to become certainly one of at the very least 20 U.S.-trained nurses employed since April.
Trump, a number of the nurses stated, was why they left.
“There are such a lot of like-minded individuals on the market,” stated Justin, who now works elbow to elbow with Individuals in Canada. “You are not trapped. You do not have to remain. Well being care staff are welcomed with open arms world wide.”
The Millers are a part of a brand new surge of American nurses, medical doctors, and different well being care staff transferring to Canadaand particularly British Columbia, the place greater than 1,000 U.S.-trained nurses have been authorized to work since April.
Many nurses have felt the draw of Canada’s progressive politics, pleasant status, and common well being care system, which stands in distinction to what they see as authoritarian insurance policies beneath Trump together with deep cuts to funding for public well being, insurance coverageand medical analysis.
Moreover, some nurses had been incensed final 12 months when the Trump administration stated it will reclassify nursing as a nonprofessional diplomawhich might impose strict federal limits on the loans nursing college students may obtain.
Canada is poised to capitalize. Two of its most populous provinces, Ontario and British Columbia, have streamlined the licensing course of for American nurses since Trump returned to the White Home. British Columbia additionally launched a $5 million promoting marketing campaign final 12 months to recruit nurses from California, Oregon, and Washington state.
“With the chaos and uncertainty taking place within the U.S., we’re seizing the chance to draw the expertise we’d like,” Josie Osborne, the province’s well being minister, stated in a press release asserting the marketing campaign.
Fears realized
Amy Miller, a nurse practitioner, stated she and her husband had been decided to maneuver their youngsters in a foreign country as a result of they felt Trump’s second time period would inevitably spiral into violence.
First, the Millers obtained nursing licenses in New Zealand, however when the job search took too lengthy, they pivoted to Canada.
Justin was supplied a job inside weeks.
Amy discovered one inside three months.
So that they moved. And only a few days later, the Millers watched with horror from afar as their fears got here true.
As federal immigration forces clashed with protesters in Minneapolis on Jan. 24, federal brokers fatally shot an ICU nurse, Alex Pretti, as he filmed a confrontation and gave the impression to be making an attempt to protect a girl who was knocked down. Video of the killing confirmed border brokers pinning Pretti to the bottom earlier than seizing his hid, licensed handgun after which opening fireplace on him.
The Trump administration rapidly referred to as Pretti a “home terrorist” who meant to kill federal brokers. That allegation was disputed by eyewitness movies that circulated on social media and spurred widespread outrage, together with from nurses and nursing organizations, a few of whom invoked the career’s obligation to take care of the susceptible.
“I do not need to say it was anticipated, however that is why we’re right here,” Amy Miller stated. “Even our oldest child, she was like: ‘It is OK, Mother, as a result of we’re not there anymore. We’re protected right here.’ So she acknowledges that, and he or she’s not even in center college but.”
Each the U.S. and Canada have a extreme want for nurses. The U.S. is projected to be quick about 270,000 registered nurses, plus at the very least 120,000 licensed sensible nurses, by 2028, based on current estimates from the Well being Sources and Providers Administration. In Canada, nursing job vacancies tripled from 2018 to 2023, once they reached practically 42,000, based on a current report from the Montreal Financial Institute, a Canadian suppose tank.
When requested to remark, the White Home famous that trade information reveals the variety of nurses licensed within the U.S. elevated in 2025. It dismissed accounts of nurses transferring to Canada as “anecdotes of people with extreme circumstances of Trump derangement syndrome.”
“The American well being care workforce is the best on this planet, and it continues to broaden beneath President Trump,” White Home spokesperson Kush Desai stated. “Employment alternatives within the American well being care system stay strong, with profession development and pay that far exceed that of different developed nations.”
‘A way of aid’
It’s unknown exactly what number of American nurses have moved north since Trump returned to workplace, as a result of some Canadian provinces don’t observe or launch such statistics.
British Columbia, which has accomplished essentially the most to recruit Individuals, authorized the licensing functions of 1,028 U.S.-trained nurses from when the province’s streamlined software course of took impact in April 2025 by January, based on the British Columbia School of Nurses and Midwives. In all of 2023 solely 112 candidates from the U.S. had been authorized, the company stated. In 2024, it was 127.
Elevated curiosity from American nurses was additionally confirmed by nursing associations in Ontario and Alberta, in addition to by the nationwide Canadian Nurses Affiliation.
Angela Wignall, CEO of Nurses and Nurse Practitioners of British Columbia, stated American nurses used to maneuver north as a result of that they had fallen in love with Canada (or a Canadian). However extra just lately, she stated, she had met nurses who feared the White Home would spur violence and vigilantism, notably towards households that included same-sex {couples}.
“A few of them had been dwelling in worry of the administration, and so they shared a way of aid when crossing the border,” Wignall stated. “As a Canadian, it is heartbreaking. And likewise a pleasure to welcome them.”
Vancouver Island, which has a inhabitants of about 860,000, has gained 64 U.S.-trained nurses since April, together with these at Nanaimo Regional, stated Andrew Leyne, a spokesperson for the island’s well being company.
One of many nurses was Susan Fleishman, a Canadian who moved to the U.S. as a baby, then labored for 23 years in American emergency rooms earlier than leaving the nation in November.
Fleishman stated hateful rhetoric from Trump has fueled an offended division that has permeated and soured American life.
“It wasn’t a straightforward transfer — that is for certain. However I believe it is undoubtedly value it,” she stated, fortunately again in Canada. “I discover there’s much more kindness right here. And I believe that can maintain me right here.”
Brandy Frye, an American nurse who additionally labored for many years in ERs, stated she moved to Vancouver Island final 12 months after ready to see whether or not Mark Carney would change into Canada’s prime minister. Carney’s rise was extensively seen as a rejection of Trumpism.
In the meantime, Frye stated, the California hospital the place she labored had been stripping phrases related to variety and fairness out of its paperwork to appease the Trump administration. She could not stand it.
“It felt like a step towards every part I consider in,” Frye stated. “And I did not really feel like I belonged there anymore.”
Like most of the American nurses who’ve moved to Vancouver Island, Frye was first wooed to the realm by a viral video that was meant to draw vacationer {dollars} however ended up doing rather more.
A couple of 12 months in the past, Tod Maffin, a social media content material creator and former CBC Radio host, invited Individuals to the port metropolis of Nanaimo for a weekend occasion designed to offset the influence of Trump’s tariffs on the native economic system.
Maffin stated about 350 individuals attended the April occasion.
“A number of them had been well being care staff on the lookout for an escape route,” Maffin stated. “They had been there to assist assist our economic system but in addition to look into Canada.”
Maffin noticed a possibility. He repurposed the occasion web site right into a recruiting instrument and launched a Discord chatroom to assist Individuals relocate.
Maffin stated he believes the marketing campaign helped about 35 well being care staff transfer to Vancouver Island. Volunteers in greater than 30 different Canadian communities have since duplicated his web site in an effort to draw their very own American nurses and medical doctors.
“There are communities throughout Canada the place the emergency room closes at evening as a result of one nurse is out. That is how skinny staffing is,” Maffin stated.
“One new nurse in a small city, or in a midsized metropolis like Nanaimo,” he stated, “makes a distinction.”
KFF Well being Information is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points and is likely one of the core working applications at KFF.
