In Canada, Quebec, thDue to labor needs, had paved the way for 52,500 foreigners in 2022 that he does not rule out renewing it for the current financial year. Recruitment had then targeted health workers “abroad” (4,000) including nurses (3,500), including Moroccans.
Ihe government of Quebec already estimated that it would have to recruit, over the five-year term, 30% of the total workforce of 75,000 nurses. The health crisis had exposed the embolism of the health system in Quebec but also in the other provinces of Canada. Also to do this it was estimated that in the French-speaking province the number of vacancies at 20,000 health workers in hospitals, and this, without the slightest possibility of replacing them.
The solution to this fait accompli, for the Quebec government, is the arrival of at least 3,500 caregivers per year for the next five years to be distributed in the “Belle Province“ where the Francophonie dominates. In this respect, the Moroccan nurse is well off and therefore found material to compete with those of France, Belgium, Maghreb, Brazil, as well as Lebanon…
The number of positions to be filled depends on the assessment of the needs of each province, taking into account the feasibility of the thing (administrative procedures for immigration and recognition of the diploma (a 75-day internship is necessary for the definitive recognition of the diploma The assessment was also based on the capacity of institutions and regions to accommodate these health workers.
Last fall, a first wave of 38 nurses from Africa (Tunisia, Morocco, Cameroon and Algeria) arrived in Gaspésie to meet labor needs. We were also expecting fifty other caregivers this spring (currently completing their refresher training), recruited by the Government of Quebec to come lend a hand to the Gaspésie health network.
Unfortunately, the deadline was postponed for lack of available accommodation to accommodate them in Gaspé, a French-speaking town of just over 15,000 inhabitants, to come later as reinforcements to the health personnel of Gaspésie. As a result, the “arrival” of the long-awaited caregivers, most of them accompanied by their spouse or family, is postponed until the fall. Indeed this second group of about fifty nurses from Morocco, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin and Algeria will not arrive as planned in April.
The first group that preceded them had experienced the same misadventure. It is that the vacancy rate of housing is 0.2% in this province located in the center-east of Quebec and in particular in Gaspé the largest city of Gaspésie. Also the main challenge that caregivers will have to face is neither more nor less than this housing story. As elsewhere in Quebec and even in Canada, the shortage of caregivers is hitting this region hard (lacking at least a hundred nurses) which is located far from the major centers of Quebec. It is not unique to the Gaspé that other provinces and regions are experiencing the same situation.
The Minister of Immigration of Quebec, Christine Fréchette has certainly noted that several regions of the province of Gaspésie have “an appetite like never before” to welcome immigrants, but the enthusiasm is not enough. “You also have to be able to meet the needs of these people”, argues the Minister. In addition, there is also another major issue, which is the distribution and choice of newcomers in the regions of Quebec.
Some 75% of the latter choose Montreal to settle and work, Quebec obtains only 4% to 5% of immigration, and Gaspésie, 1% which complicates the situation a little more. “There is a lag at the moment, it is not representative of the weight of the different regions. We can distribute the pie differently, there may be a little less in Montreal, a little more in the regions”added, to the Journal de Montréal, Christine Fréchette.
To conclude: “SIf we start to restore that, the balance will be different, but still, people have to be able to welcome newcomers adequately and support them”.