West African nurses who participated in the Quebec government’s program to recruit nurses from overseas to solve the nursing shortage are facing serious financial difficulties due to the program’s unreasonable operation, a civil rights group has claimed.
Some of the nurses who were recruited from West Africa to Quebec said they failed certain subjects during the training course and were kicked out of the program, losing their government-paid benefits and part-time jobs as caregivers, which left them dependent on food banks.
At a press conference in Montreal on Thursday, a nurse who requested anonymity shared her situation, fearing professional disadvantage. She said she had worked as a nurse in West Africa for 10 years and had moved to the Montérégie region of Quebec with her family. However, she said she was in the most difficult financial situation after failing one subject in the training program. “It’s so hard that I can’t even support my children,” he said.
The Quebec government announced a $65 million nurse training program to recruit and train 1,000 nurses from member states of the Francophonie in 2022 to address the nursing shortage. The program will provide applicants with training at junior colleges in designated Quebec regions, a $500 weekly stipend, childcare, transportation, and the opportunity to work part-time as a caregiver.
However, Po Niemi, director of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations, said at least 50 of the recruits who participated in the program faced bureaucratic barriers or discrimination during the program’s operation. He noted that some recruits were kicked out of the program after failing certain classes, losing both government financial support and part-time jobs.
Participants who are removed from the program can theoretically re-enroll, but they are tied to the province where they began their training and cannot re-enroll until a junior college in that province reopens. This puts many of them at risk of having their study permits expire, and if they do, they could be deported, Niemi said. They are also prohibited from seeking employment elsewhere, leaving them in dire straits.
“They cannot move to another junior college to continue their training, and they are not even allowed to work in a regular restaurant,” Niemi added. He also claimed that the restrictive conditions of the training program were not fully explained to recruiters.
Another nurse who attended the press conference said she had worked as a nurse in Côte d’Ivoire for five years and said it took time for her to adapt to Quebec’s health care system. “There’s a lot we don’t know about the Quebec health system,” he said. “It’s very unsettling because even the smallest mistake can get you kicked out of the program.” He said he was kicked out of the training program in Quebec’s Abitibi-Temiscamang region but is expected to re-enroll this fall. However, the program has not yet been assigned a teacher.
Niemi said other recruits have also faced discrimination during the training, with some being treated in a racially discriminatory manner, including being publicly offered deodorant by supervisors during training.
Quebec’s immigration department had no immediate comment.