Advertisement 1
Hundreds of nurses and doctors are leaving the states to seek a new life north of the border
Article content
Kevin Tardiff didn’t need a lot of convincing when his wife, Tara, suggested they move to Canada.
Article content
She had read an article on Facebook about B.C. looking for health-care workers from California, Oregon and Washington. Tardiff, a registered nurse originally from California, and his wife had met while attending university in Oregon, joined the Peace Corps in Morocco, returned to the States to start a family, and then moved to New Zealand a few years ago.
Article content
Article content
Story continues below
Article content
They were keen to move somewhere closer to their families.
Article content
Sunrise
Article content
“I remember the exact day I walked in through the door, and we were kind of debating about going back to the States, and we weren’t feeling very confident about that. But we also, again, didn’t want to be so far away from our family,” he said.
Article content
They eventually landed on Nanaimo as a destination, drawn by the prospect of being closer to family along the Pacific coast and by the good schools and affordable health care in B.C.
Article content
Tardiff said it took him about six months to get the required credentials to move to B.C.
Article content
The couple arrived a few weeks ago.
Article content
Article content
“I don’t think I’ll ever feel settled, and that’s kind of a bummer, but that’s what it is,” said Tardiff, who nevertheless said he likes what he has seen of B.C. so far.
Article content
Tardiff is one of more than 500 American health-care workers who have moved to B.C. since the province launched a $5 million campaign almost a year ago to attract doctors, nurses and other medical professionals.
Article content
The campaign aimed to address an acute shortage of health-care workers that has left hundreds of thousands of B.C. residents without a family doctor and emergency rooms have had to close intermittently throughout the province.
Article content
Story continues below
Article content
According to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health, 109 doctors, 315 nurses, 51 nurse practitioners and 29 other health professionals trained in the U.S. had moved to the province as of April 1.
Article content
Read More
-
B.C. adds 414 American health-care workers in first 10 months of ad campaign
-
B.C. government to unhappy doctors, nurses in the U.S.: Come work for us
-
Advertisement 1
Story continues below
Article content
The ministry said it received 2,900 job applications from U.S. workers between March 2025 and February 2026.
Article content
Some of those workers spoke to Postmedia about why they moved here, what their journey was like, and what they hope for in their new life in Canada.
Article content
B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne says she is glad the campaign is a success and hopes the flow of American health workers continues.
Article content
“The campaign has far exceeded our expectations in terms of increasing the profile of British Columbia and making that invitation to U.S.-trained professionals to follow their hearts and come to British Columbia and work in our public, universal health-care system.”
Article content
For many of the health-care workers coming to B.C., the political situation in the U.S. is a major reason for the move as President Donald Trump continues to go after opponents, deport undocumented immigrants and openly mull nationalizing the election process in an effort to prevent a mid-term loss.
Advertisement 1
Advertisement 2
Advertisement
Article content
Justin and Amy Miller said that after Trump was elected, Wisconsin no longer felt the same and they wanted a fresh start.
Article content
They learned about an event organized by Nanaimo-based former radio host Tod Maffin, who leads a volunteer-driven movement called Canada’s Healthcare Infusion, which tries to match health-care workers with jobs in Canada, and decided B.C. might be a good place to relocate to.
Article content
“We actually had wanted to come last year to the initial event in April, but we had something else going on that we couldn’t reschedule, so we weren’t able to make that, but once we had done some research, we made the decision that we were very strongly interested in British Columbia,” said Amy Miller.
Article content
“In our exploration, we learned Vancouver was a little bit out of our price range. And then Vancouver Island, if we found the right area, was just absolutely gorgeous.”
Article content
The Millers eventually settled in Ladysmith, a community where they feel safe sending their kids to school.
Article content
Amy said that they’ve found a place that seems to fit with their “family values.”
Article content
Tardiff said the political situation in the U.S. wasn’t the direct reason for his and his wife’s decision to move to Canada but it did contribute to their lack of desire to go back to the U.S.
Article content
Story continues below
Article content
He said that ever since Barack Obama was elected, there has been a sense of disillusionment among Americans who thought their situation was going to improve.
Article content
“I definitely lean more left. And one of the big clinchers for us is that we were really excited about President Obama, very excited. And when he came in, it felt, even though I still felt like he was a good person, a good president, nothing really changed,” said Tardiff.
Article content
“We want to be close to family, to be driveable, but maybe schools can be more affordable. Health care is definitely more affordable — those two were probably our biggest ones, and that’s what brought us to B.C.”
Article content
Article content
Nurse practitioner Cassandra Lee, from Kentucky, is planning to move to Nanaimo soon and is starting a job there in mid-August.
Article content
Her almost-18-year-old son is LGBTQ and no longer feels safe in the United States, she said. And she is a reservist in the U.S. military and doesn’t want to risk being called up.
Article content
Lee is also worried her son could be forced to enlist.
Article content
“They’re changing the laws here. You don’t have to sign up for the draft. It’s going to be automatic,” she said.
Article content
Story continues below
Article content
Lee also said she has been harassed by ICE officers, even though she is an American citizen, and is concerned about the path the country is on.
Article content
The changes B.C. has made to the credential recognition process over the past few years mean that doctors and nurses from the U.S. can get their credentials transferred here in a matter of days, says the province.
Article content
The B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives uses an American database to search credentials, while the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons has eliminated the need for additional assessments.
Article content
Lee said the process is a lot easier in B.C. than in other provinces she looked at, such as Nova Scotia.
Article content
“At the time that I was starting this journey, British Columbia and Nova Scotia had it the easiest but Nova Scotia, at the time (still) had you jumping through a lot of hoops to get your licences recognized,” said Lee.
Article content
“When I started this about nine months ago, I was looking for a faster pathway to get there, not only for safety for myself, but to help people.”
Article content
The Millers had looked at moving to New Zealand but the time that it would have taken to get their licences recognized there was prohibitive compared to B.C.
Story continues below
Article content
“I will say as a nurse practitioner, that for New Zealand, I was going as a registered nurse, and it was going to take, in reality, likely over three years for me to be able to practise again as a nurse practitioner.”
Article content
The advocacy work done by Maffin and others has helped attract health-care workers to B.C. His videos on TikTok and other platforms, as well as last year’s meet-up event in Nanaimo, have convinced many to make the trek.
Article content
How the former radio host got into this advocacy work is a bit of a mystery to the man himself.
Article content
“I have no idea. It just sort of happened accidentally. So around about the time that Trump started the tariffs, I had a pretty small social media presence. I made a couple of videos about how to effectively boycott American products in the grocery stores,” he said.
Article content
“And in the comments were a whole lot of Americans saying, we support this. Actually, it’s fine with us. If you want to boycott us, we kind of deserve it, and we’re happy to support the Canadian economy in the way that we want.”
Article content
This led to a meet-and-greet event in Nanaimo that was initially geared towards boosting tourism, but turned into a recruitment campaign for health-care workers, said Maffin.
Article content
Story continues below
Article content
He said there are now 43 chapters of Canada’s Healthcare Infusion volunteer movement across the country.
Article content
With job offers secured and credentials approved, the journey to B.C. and the process of resettling has been a little different for each of the American families.
Article content
Tardiff said he had a moment where he was worried about how his kids would handle it and whether he was doing the right thing.
Article content
“The night before we drove here, I freaked out. I just had this fear, like, what did I do? You know, are they going to struggle?” he said.
Article content
“It took about two weeks before they were able to get into school, and that first day they were already saying they have so many friends.”
Article content
For the Millers, the move was a feat of logistics. The couple needed to transport their three kids, two dogs and a bearded dragon from their home in Wisconsin through Yellowstone National Park and Washington state and on the ferry to Vancouver Island in the middle of winter.
Article content
They also needed to downsize their belongings from their previous four-bedroom house and only bring what would fit in a two- or three-bedroom apartment.
Article content
Story continues below
Article content
Justin is now working in the emergency room at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, while Amy has four to six weeks left of shadowing before she can work as a nurse practitioner in Canada.
Article content
Their kids have settled in well and have already made some friendships that are arguably stronger than those they made in Wisconsin, they said.
Article content
“The reason that we want to help spread the word is two-fold,” said Amy Miller.
Article content
“People are interested in coming here to work in health care. Obviously, we’re so grateful to be here. But I want the community here to know that it’s working and to continue with that momentum. And I want to let people in the States know that this is an option, that it’s a real option.”
Article content
Article content
