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 go away President Donald Trump’s America.
The Millers resettled on Vancouver Island, their scenic refuge accessible solely by ferry or aircraft. Justin went to work within the emergency room at Nanaimo Regional Basic Hospital, the place he grew to become one among not less than 20 U.S.-trained nurses employed since April.
Worry of Trump, among the nurses mentioned, was why they left.
“There are so many like-minded people out there,” mentioned Justin, who now works elbow to elbow with Individuals in Canada. “You aren’t trapped. You don’t have to stay. Health care workers are welcomed with open arms around the world.”
The Millers are a part of a brand new surge of American nurses, medical doctors, and different well being care employees shifting to Canada, and particularly British Columbia, the place greater than 1,000 U.S.-trained nurses have been accepted to work since April. Because the Trump administration enacts more and more authoritarian insurance policies and decimates funding for public well being, insurance coverage, and medical analysis, many nurses have felt the draw of Canada’s progressive politics, pleasant fame, and common well being care system.
Moreover, some nurses had been incensed final yr when the Trump administration mentioned it could reclassify nursing as a nonprofessional diploma, which might impose strict federal limits on the loans nursing college students might 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 yr to recruit nurses from California, Oregon, and Washington state.
“With the chaos and uncertainty happening in the U.S., we are seizing the opportunity to attract the talent we need,” Josie Osborne, the province’s well being minister, mentioned in a press release asserting the marketing campaign.
Fears Realized
Amy Miller, a nurse practitioner, mentioned she and her husband had been decided to maneuver their youngsters overseas as a result of they felt Trump’s second time period would inevitably spiral into violence.
First, the Millers acquired 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.
In order that they moved. And just some 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 seemed to be making an attempt to protect a lady who was knocked down. Video of the killing confirmed border brokers pinning Pretti to the bottom earlier than seizing his hid, licensed handgun and opening fireplace on him.
The Trump administration shortly referred to as Pretti a “domestic 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 occupation’s responsibility to look after the susceptible.
“I don’t want to say it was expected, but that’s why we are here,” Amy Miller mentioned. “Even our oldest kid, she was like: ‘It’s OK, Mom, because we are not there anymore. We are safe here.’ So she recognizes that, and she’s not even in middle school yet.”
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 not less than 120,000 licensed sensible nurses, by 2028, in accordance with latest estimates from the Well being Assets and Providers Administration. In Canada, nursing job vacancies tripled from 2018 to 2023, after they reached almost 42,000, in accordance with a latest report from the Montreal Financial Institute, a Canadian assume tank.
When requested to remark, the White Home famous that trade information exhibits the variety of nurses licensed within the U.S. elevated in 2025. It dismissed accounts of nurses shifting to Canada as “anecdotes of individuals with severe cases of Trump derangement syndrome.”
“The American health care workforce is the finest in the world, and it continues to expand under President Trump,” White Home spokesperson Kush Desai mentioned. “Employment opportunities in the American health care system remain robust, with career advancement and pay that far exceed that of other developed nations.”
‘A Sense of Relief’
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 monitor or launch such statistics.
British Columbia, which has finished probably the most to recruit Individuals, accepted the licensing purposes of 1,028 U.S.-trained nurses from when the province’s streamlined utility course of took impact in April 2025 by January, in accordance with the British Columbia School of Nurses and Midwives. In all of 2023, solely 112 candidates from the U.S. had been accepted, the company mentioned. 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, mentioned American nurses used to maneuver north as a result of that they had fallen in love with Canada (or a Canadian). However extra not too long ago, she mentioned, she had met nurses who feared the White Home would spur violence and vigilantism, significantly in opposition to households that included same-sex {couples}.
“Some of them were living in fear of the administration, and they shared a sense of relief when crossing the border,” Wignall mentioned. “As a Canadian, it’s heartbreaking. And also a joy 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, mentioned 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 mentioned hateful rhetoric from Trump has fueled an offended division that has permeated and soured American life.
“It wasn’t an easy move — that’s for sure. But I think it’s definitely worth it,” she mentioned, fortunately again in Canada. “I find there is a lot more kindness here. And I think that will keep me here.”
Brandy Frye, who additionally labored for many years in American ERs, mentioned she moved to Vancouver Island final yr after ready to see whether or not Mark Carney would turn into Canada’s prime minister. Carney’s rise was extensively considered as a rejection of Trumpism.
In the meantime, Frye mentioned, the California hospital the place she labored had been stripping phrases related to range and fairness out of its paperwork to appease the Trump administration. She couldn’t stand it.
“It felt like a step against everything I believe in,” Frye mentioned. “And I didn’t 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 far more.
A couple of yr 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 financial system.
Maffin mentioned about 350 folks attended the April occasion.
“A lot of them were health care workers looking for an escape route,” Maffin mentioned. “They were there to help support our economy but also to look into Canada.”
Maffin noticed a chance. He repurposed the occasion web site right into a recruiting device and launched a Discord chatroom to assist Individuals relocate.
Maffin mentioned he believes the marketing campaign helped about 35 well being care employees 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 across Canada where the emergency room closes at night because one nurse is out. That’s how thin staffing is,” Maffin mentioned.
“One new nurse in a small town, or in a midsized city like Nanaimo,” he mentioned, “makes a difference.”
