 in fact you know some people say I haven't been anywhere in a while except rooms isolated in various parts of the province so it's great to be here today I want to acknowledge that we're on the traditional territory of the Musqueam of the Squamish of the Slewa Tooth First Nation I want to extend our gratitude the premier and the government of everyone here to Langara College for allowing us to use their classroom for this announcement today. Langara College is one of the sites where internationally educated nurses do their triple track assessment a single competency assessment is administered by the college's nurses and midwives and nursing community assessment service it allows the college to identify the readiness of an IEN to work as a healthcare aide a licensed practical nurse or a registered nurse in British Columbia so it's fitting for today's sequel announcement to one we made in April to take place here it's always my pleasure and it's our pleasure to share the latest news about the foundational work we're doing together we and our partners to to support and strengthen our public healthcare system and build on our health human resources plan so I'm going to introduce to you the people who will be speaking today premier David Ebe will be first our vendor Sandu the parliamentary secretary for senior services and long-term care and the MLA for Vernon Monashie will be speaking Oman Garawal the president of the BC nurses union good to see you Oman Cynthia Johansson CEO of the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives Jenny Arsenault registered nurse and registered nurse and internationally educated nurse who's part of our first announcement she did so well we brought her back for the second time it's incredible I was there too they brought me back but they had to that's the difference that's the difference Jenny and Monique we was a registered nurse and internationally educated nurse nice to see you want to also introduce some other people who are here in particular Susie Chan the MLA for North Vancouver Seymour who's the parliamentary secretary for accessibility and of course a registered nurse like Harvinder so we are well represented here as well I want to introduce Rita Perique the executive director of the nursing community assessment service Rita's over there Rita I want everybody to know in my last job prior to being elected succeeded me in that job so you know she might be the next minister of health we'll see if that pattern continues we're all so happy to see all of you in the new year and so as all of you know in September of 2022 we announced our health human resources strategy which outlines 70 actions to strengthen BC's health workforce and build a stronger healthcare system for all of us since I have been minister of health we've added net new 38,000 new workers doctors and nurses and healthcare systems and health sciences professionals and we have to do it again and then we have to do it again today I'm happy that we're launching another step in this plan and to deliver the announcement I'm honored to invite the Honourable David Ebe Premier of British Columbia to the podium Premier Ebe. Thank you very much Minister Dix thank you for the kind welcome and and so glad to be joined by so many talented and remarkable British Columbians here today joining you today on the territory of the Musqueam people the Squamish and Slewa Tooth and I would like to take a particular moment to to thank my colleagues in the legislature who are nurses joining us today Harwinder and Suzy wonderful to see you both and and glad to see you bringing your personal experiences and professional experiences to today's announcement and also wanted to thank very much Cynthia Johansson the CEO of the BC Colleges of Nurses and Midswives and also Amon Graywall the BC Nurses Union representative who's here today because it's my understanding that we wouldn't be here today without the support and an encouragement that both of you have brought and the leadership that you've brought to this and working with Minister Dix so thank you so much for that and also certainly last but not least the reason for the season and the announcement here we have Jenny and Monique both internationally trained nurses who are living examples of the commitment to nursing and service to British Columbians and the remarkable gifts and talents that they bring to our province I wanted to say thank you so much for joining us today and for speaking about your experiences we're all here today with a with a shared goal and a common goal we want to make sure that every British Columbian gets the health services that they need and it's as simple as that it's a key focus of my plan for the first 100 days in office and as we start a new year we remain focused I remain focused on delivering those results that people can see and feel and touch and experience in their lives within the first 50 days British Columbians saw us take action on public safety making communities safer by tackling those repeat offenders those violent offenders making sure that they remain in custody and off the streets we're tackling the housing crisis opening up units for rent that were previously barred from rental by unfair rules making sure that families can stay in their homes and not be evicted by unfair rules and we're making sure that our public health care system remains strong today and for generations to come we're building new hospitals opening new urgent primary care centers we're building the first new medical school in generations in western canada delivering a new compensation deal for doctors bringing 4600 health care workers back into the public sector and hiring thousands of nurses but we need to do more hiring and training more nurses is part of our own ongoing work to make sure that health care is accessible to all British Columbians and still we know the demand for the skills and expertise that nurses bring to the job every day has never been more in demand in our health care system there are high skilled and experienced nurses who want to get to work in our system now but are facing barriers preventing them from delivering the services that British Columbians need we need to fix that just as we made changes for internationally trained doctors we need to do the same for nurses and that's why we're here today I'm pleased to announce new supports in a faster assessment pathway that will get more nurses working in BC's health care system faster for nurses returning to practice there will be help with the costs of re-entering the workforce these are nurses who may have taken a break for practice for any number of reasons and want to come back but are facing financial or other barriers to coming back we want to support them in coming back to work this includes application and assessment fee support along with travel expenses support additionally bursaries of up to $10,000 available for any additional education that those nurses need we're coming back to practice in order to be able to get to work for internationally trained nurses we've committed $1.3 million to set up a new pathway to streamline the licensing process this will help our partners the BC College of Nurses and Midwives and the nursing community assessment service assess more applications faster now what is that going to mean in real terms for British Columbians well right now candidates in this scenario are waiting three years to be granted registration our goal is to bring it down with these reforms to between four to nine months we also want to reduce any potential financial barriers so we had grants for internationally educated nurses but those nurses had to pay those grants up front and then be reimbursed later so now our government will be covering over $3,700 up front in application assessment fees for internationally trained nurses so that that application fee does not stand in the way of them practicing in British Columbia the bottom line is this whether a nurse was trained in our province or not we're ready to welcome those who are ready to care for British Columbians today's announcement continues our ongoing work to support more internationally educated nurses in British Columbia some numbers since April 2022 a total of 5,500 nurses have said that they want to work in BC 2000 are in the registration and assessment process right now more than 90 percent of applications were received after our government's initial actions to welcome internationally educated nurses into our health care system there is still much work much work ahead of us but i'm optimistic about the impact that these changes will have in a very real way for British Columbians now i know that there are some who believe the way to fix our health care system is to abandon the principles of universal access to Medicare they believe that the wealthiest should be able to buy their way to the front of the line thinking that that somehow solves the line it doesn't it just changes who's at the front of the line we can't cut funding and expect more doctors and nurses to show up British Columbians couldn't afford that old approach to health care five years ago when they changed governments and they sure can't afford it now everyone in BC deserves the absolute best in health care no matter where you live or how much money you have in your bank account that's my vision for British Columbia and i know it's British Columbians vision for how our province should work a province where you can build a good life and know your family is taken care of thank you thank you very much premier and and uh i think this is a significant day it builds on the steps that the government took in april that have had an enormous impact a positive impact on on allowing and involving international uh international educated nurses in british columbia it's something that is widely supported by the public and it demonstrates the determination of all of the partners in health care and you see uh many of them here today are our college of nurses and midwives which has been doing exceptional work canadian leading work in terms of removing barriers to people coming and practicing their skills in british columbia and our our bc nurses union which strongly supports investment in public health care and strongly supports these actions and welcoming new members of the bc nurses union but also uh also i think and importantly uh supporting uh those nurses when they get there as we need to do in our workplaces across british columbia which is always a challenge and always an important consideration so i want to thank all of you and now i want to share the floor uh with my colleague harvinder sandu the mla for vernan monashie a nurse and the parliamentary secretary for senior services and long-term care to say a few words thank you thank you i always wish i was a couple inches taller but this does it so hello everyone and thank you so much minister dix for a warm welcome good afternoon and everyone so good to see you all i would like to acknowledge with respect that we are able to gather here today on the traditional territories of muslim scomas uh and slavery took nations it is such a pleasure to have an occasion like this and to share the floor for the first time i want to acknowledge uh my colleague my friend suzie chant mla from north wanky over seymour who has been also registered nurse for decades i think more than three decades and suzie still works as a nurse on casual basis and it's incredible to have another nurse on the government side so when we're shaping the policies doing the work it's really encouraging to see the supportive government i also like to uh suzie chant mla chant is also a parliamentary secretary for accessibilities i also would like to acknowledge my colleague mabel almore mla from vanky over kensictim and previous parliamentary secretary for senior services and long-term care who has done phenomenal work and advocacy to support nurses internationally educated nurses and healthcare workers in general in fact um when i went to the legislator legislature in chambers in april 2014 i was mla mabel almore's guest advocating for internationally educated nurses we were in the opposition then but we have the support ever since from the bcndp government so that is how i met and now we sit next to each other in the legislature so who knew um it's incredible to be here i want want to acknowledge my sister a fellow colleague amon graywall a president of bc nurses union and synthia johanneson ceo of bc college of registered nurses and midwives and our guest speakers monique and genie thank you so much for being here today today's announcement has a great meaning for me before entering into public life i had the honor of serving as a registered nurse for almost nearly two decades in bc first in terris and then wernan so the writing of wernan monashi which i represent i am also an internationally educated nurse and at time people when asked me when i made my way to become patient care coordinator and a lot of people asked me this is really encouraging to see you doing such a good job i said don't ask me how i got here it took me many years and several years and many tears but now we're changing that we're changing that for the good so you know bringing working in northern health authority in rural communities and then later in the okanagan working in various healthcare settings from acute care to community to long term i got to meet many many people from different walks of lives also to meet with many healthcare workers every day my colleagues the nurses of british columbia take care of their patients with great skills compassion and knowledge while they deliver care with precision they also embody a sense of hope and possibility which make the demanding work of healthcare meaningful three years of pandemic have presented unprecedented challenges for most people but our nurses and all our healthcare workers it continued to they continue to work undeterred and with so much hope and possibility and you know the positivity they deliver excellent care every single day despite the challenges they have been facing nurses also face life decisions too and some of them have chosen left nursing to pursue other goals but when given the opportunity to do this rewarding work we need to support them they say once a nurse is always a nurse we may take leave or we may retire but once we become nurses nobody can take that nurse out of us and that is why we're gathered here today as you heard from our premier we are going to support canadian trained nurses in bc who want to return to practice by removing some financial barriers this will help them to get reassessed and trained faster so they can contribute to to the public health service more quickly this step our government takes is incredible significant and most direct by supporting our nurses more patients in british columbia will have will benefit i'm also proud that our province has one of the most diverse populations in canada and there are many reasons internationally educated nurses may want to work here the financial support we're announcing today for internationally educated nurses to help for them to become gain accreditation quickly will be more reasons why they will choose british columbia besides it is beautiful province and it also has a wonderful diverse population we have a great healthcare system that value and respect nurses a system that is equitable and accessible for all british columbians these value added incentives are important factors to new canadians as they build their lives in our province by streamlining the registration process and by providing bursaries for skill upgrades internationally educated nurses can now work in their trained professions faster moving to a difficult different country is difficult as it is but knowing that the government is here to set us up for success we will in return build a stronger bc together as a nurse it is reassuring and i can i'm sure my ml a chat my colleague can attest to that it is incredibly reassuring to have a government to have health minister who works sincerely and have premier and government we've seen them working diligently with sincerity with the dedication not only to support healthcare workers but also to strengthen our healthcare system in general and before i welcome minister dix back to the podium i would like to say that this is my first opportunity to speak an event as the parliamentary secretary for senior services and long-term care it is truly an honor to have this start in company of you minister dix and my colleagues and guest speakers and all of you i would like to say thank you so much for making this day so special and letting me be part of this thank you minister dix thank you that was great thank you harvinder and thank you for sharing the unique perspective you bring to this work as you know over the last a couple of years mabel elmore has done this work and really worked on this question of both of accreditation but also of international educated nurses in particular and you're picking up on that in your your extraordinary experience really assists in that so thank you very much and i want to now introduce one of the many partners in our work in health care the president of the bc nurses union on the girl well i'm just thinking i may need it thank you thank you so thank you very much uh i'd like to begin by sharing my respect for the traditional and unceded lands of the squamish musqueamans we la tooth peoples of the cosaelish nations lands on which we are gathered here today as president of the bc nurses union representing more than 48 000 nurses in this province i am pleased to be here alongside premier ebe minister dix and our fellow nursing professionals thank you so much for being here today's announcement of investments in supporting both internationally educated nurses and those interested in returning to practice offers hope for a strained and understaffed health care system for years bc nurses union has been advocating for improvements to help streamline the application process for ians internationally educated nurses and the bc nurses union welcomes this as a promising step forward we believe these internationally educated and trained nurses professionals bring valuable experiences skills and knowledge to a health care system that is in desperate need of nurses we are optimistic that the efforts to remove barriers for not only the internationally educated nurses but also those interested in returning to practice will provide meaningful supports for these nurses who are eager to provide patient care in our province not only will the addition of these nurses alleviate some of the pressure on the current state of our staffing crisis the diversity that harwinder was speaking about and the experiences that they bring will help to serve the cultural needs of our patient populations throughout the health care system while much work remains when it comes to addressing the nursing shortage in this province these initiatives announced today are very positive steps in the right direction and i just want to say that we look forward to working with all parties to welcome these nurses into the workforce and here in to bc so thank you thank you very much almond thank you for all the work and all the work of nurses and you know we reflect on the last three years but you can reflect on the last few weeks we in bc as you know had a very serious accident with the bus and the response to the health care system it was unbelievably tragic circumstances for everybody involved and the response on christmas eve of doctors and nurses and health sciences professionals and health care workers and of course ambulance paramedics to that accident demonstrates it's profoundly moving to see after after all three years of pandemic and everything else that that response was remarkable on the ground and it reflects i think the work of nurses everywhere so i know i know we all understand that in theory we all understand that every day is a challenging day but also when you're dealing with people who need who need help and need to get well but also but there this has been a particularly challenging period and we are we are very grateful for the work of nurses across bc i want to say this announcement today and the work we've been doing couldn't be possible without our partners at the bc college of nurses and midwives and their partners such as the leadership here at langara college and everyone here at langara college who is part of that partnership we're honored today to have with us marg heldman who's the vp academic of langara college and use of ferracea who's the vp of external relations and community engagement thank them for their help today but also their help every day in making the work we're doing and we're announcing today a reality and make a difference for individuals allow them to to achieve their professional professional aspirations but as well for our health care system as well so and i'm sure cindy would agree with that it's my pleasure and honor to introduce the ceo of the bc college of nurses and midwives thank you minister dicks um it's an absolute pleasure and delight to be here um but before i start remark my remarks i just want to acknowledge um that we are gathered here today at snowy lake them which is also uh langara college um that's the musqueam name that has been given to this amazing center of learning um it's also on the unceded and traditional territory of the hankanin speaking musqueam i am grateful to the first nations people of this province who for thousands of years have looked after and protected these lands the bc college of nurses and midwives regulates more than 68 000 individuals currently 6308 of them are internationally educated nurses we know the journey to securing a career in the health professions can be more challenging for those who are new to our country the new registration process announced today aims to reduce the time it takes to become registered by increasing efficiency reducing costs and focusing on the most important elements that will allow an individual to demonstrate their ability to practice competently and safely in british columbia's strained healthcare system for many years the college has been working with the nursing community assessment service and my colleague rita perique is here today the service aims to develop and implement and has developed and implemented a performance-based assessment process that allows internationally educated nurses to show us what they know what they can do and how prepared they are to work in our current healthcare system over time as a regulator we've moved away from spending time reviewing documentation describing an applicant's educational credential and experience and even though that is important it is not the sole contributor to their skills as a nurse the new NCAS triple track assessment and our new improved i.e. and pathway application process is the culmination of significant efforts to challenge the status quo we want to help applicants to gain registration in the right nursing role nursing role as quickly as possible ensuring that the time that it takes for them to enter our country and gain good reasonable employment is significantly reduced and as you heard the premier say it's taking up to three years for individuals to get through the process now that's not acceptable we aim to reduce this to four to nine months i want to thank in particular the staff at the college and at the nursing community assessment service who have strived to find more innovative ways to look at an applicant's skills and experiences and to match them with the needs of our healthcare system and doing so without compromising public safety i also want to thank the staff at the ministry of health and minister dicks for their ongoing support in our efforts to consider new innovative and modernized ways to regulate in the public interest and most importantly i want to thank those applicants who choose to engage with our college and who choose to pursue a career as a nurse in british columbia you jenny monique bring value to our healthcare system not only by the virtue of the career path you have chosen but through the lived experiences and the care that you will bring to the patients and families and communities you serve thank you very much thank you very much synthia i'm obviously we're proud to continue our collaboration with the college and i wanted to note that that announcement that we made in april which talked about some of the progress today and how we're building on that progress we announced the consolidating the provincial base assessment processes for ie and candidates we offered approximately nine million dollars in bursaries to help with assessment fees and we created new nurse navigator positions to help internationally educated nurses navigate the assessment and licensing process and building on that the work has continued and the steps taken today build on that success and and seek to achieve even faster success i'm i'm pleased that other jurisdictions in the country have followed us in that regard and sometimes i get asked when they get announced they announced their changes whether we're doing in bc it turns out we we did them in bc and that they're following us which is great that we're doing that work all of us together and at that announcement was jenny arsenal and i've already hyped you up a little bit jenny i'm not putting any pressure on you at all here but as remarkable i think as jenny's presentation was that day is the work that she does every day for patients in bc and so i'm really honored to introduce jenny arsenal again thank you minister dix i'm honored to be here today the last time i was here was when i took my NCAS assessment my name is jenny arsenal and i am an internationally educated nurse from the philippines i've been working as a registered nurse in campbell river for more than three years now i love working and i love british columbia but it was a journey to get here in 2009 i graduated from sibu doctors university i went on to work as a registered nurse in a hospital in the philippines for five years moving to another country was a lifelong dream because nurses are not treated well and not fairly compensated in the philippines in 2016 i landed enrichment on a student visa i was four months pregnant and my husband was way back in the philippines i knew that i would have to study to practice nursing here but i didn't expect to have to take several exams and pay a lot of money i was pregnant throughout my studies and gave birth in bc women's hospital alone i brought my baby to the philippines to meet his father and extended family then made the difficult decision to leave him there at the age of four months to return to canada to complete the process of becoming a nurse it took me one and a half year to get my lpn license and three years to obtain my registered nurse license and that costed me 40 000 in assessment registration and tuition fees after my experience i knew i wanted to make it easier and more affordable affordable to other internationally educated nurses to fulfill their dreams of working in bc in october 2022 i was invited by rita parik of the nursing community assessment service or ncaste to their very first staff retreat during the session we discussed the whole process as to how stressful the exam and the long wait was and how everything could be improved i later joined an ncaste focus group that was working to improve the whole process and the website and the whole experience how we could all easily find the information that we need as an internationally educated nurse clearly ncaste wanted to understand how they could make the process better for internationally educated nurses ncaste then worked with the government to make it all happen i'm so excited that this day has now come no more secrets the new process will be much easier and faster for iens rather than taking up to three years to get registered it might take a year or less than a year or so having the registration and ncaste assessment fees waived will also be a big help as it's already very expensive to move to bc from another country these changes show that the bc government values and supports internationally educated nurses i know these changes will inspire more iens to come to bc and start a fulfilling new chapter in their lives last 2018 my husband joined me in bc and we are now both permanent residents in 2019 we had a second son my kids are now four and six and they're both canadian citizens and my family loves bc we love the beaches mountains and islands that we get to explore both of our children have the initials bc to represent our love for this province namely brandon clark and blaze cassidy we're all so grateful to be here and i'm particularly grateful to be here doing what i love caring for my people in the community so many internationally educated nurses will benefit from these changes and so many british columbians will benefit from having more caring nurses at their bedsides i want to thank and cast bcc and m health match bc and the government of bc for their never-ending support for internationally educated nurses i can assure you that you'll have you'll be happy that you did thank you thank you jenny and uh and uh thanks for caring for patients in campbell river and uh what an incredible story uh i share your excitement about our progress to help more internationally educated nurses ready to practice nursing in bc and i'm glad to see you here and uh many many more like you like jenny our last speaker is also an internationally educated nurse so please welcome registered nurse monique we to the platform monique thank you minister dix um it is an incredible honor to be standing here and be part of this very exciting announcement my name is monique we and i'm an internationally educated nurse from the philippines i now work at bc children's hospital since 2019 um with bc easing the pathway for ians like me i am very excited to know that i will be working with more internationally educated nurses my journey to becoming one was not easy at all after starting my career in philippines i worked in saudi arabia and new zealand and um specializing in pediatric emergency um in 2017 me and my husband decided to finally live together in canada while i was in new zealand i started the growing process to become a registered nurse here in bc thinking that it might be lengthy and exhausting sure enough by the time i got here i still hadn't completed the requirements while i waited i worked in reception and other jobs fortunately i stumbled upon the bc government's career path for skilled immigrants program they provided a lot of educational programs and gave me about two thousand dollars for educational expenses which was helpful i thought that would be enough to cover everything but i ended up spending more than 10 grand to just to get my license converted i had to complete online courses clinical programs and finally sat the NCLEX or the national council licensure examination waiting was really frustrating but i did not give up finally on may 22nd 2019 i became a full pledge canadian rn however the challenges continued after getting my license it was very difficult to get a job because i really wanted to work in the hospital i was so close to really going back to new zealand when the manager at pc children's emergency department finally offered me a full timeline it took me two years to become a nurse here while it only took me six to eight weeks to get my license converted in new zealand and in saudi i only had to sit there council exam the whole process here was lengthy exhausting and expensive the changes announced today along with the changes announced in april will make a world of difference to ien's actually in the unit i work now i am the only ien however a lot of our clerks our care aides were all nurses back in their home countries they're amazing they're helpful they're very hard working and they're very very capable of being nurses here i can't wait to tell them this news and everyone is going to be very very excited even though the process to become a nurse in bc was five art but was by far the hardest of all the places i've worked bc has been my favorite place to be a nurse i just also love bc in general it's beautiful and it's a very welcoming place my husband and i now have a son and we're grateful to have the opportunity to raise him here the changes to the ien assessment and registration process will give even more opportunity to establish lives here too this will benefit everyone in british colombia because more nurses means better health care this changes show that the bc government values the education and experiences of ien's to my fellow ien's this is it finally our voices are being heard i am so excited to be working with you soon and thank you for not giving up and of course i'm incredibly grateful to the bc government for this new pathway for ien's we will not fail you thank you thank you very much this is another significant day in our efforts to build and to put in place a health human resources plan that meets the needs of our public health care system into the future over the past number of months we've added hundreds in fact more than 600 new nursing spaces in bc colleges and universities we've added 335 health sciences places in bc colleges and universities we've created new pathways for international educated doctors international educated nurses our hcap program has added thousands of people to the long-term care and home support system in bc and there is more work to be done and work that we will continue to do including a new sfu medical school including 128 new places for doctors at the university of british colombia in short this is a comprehensive response and we needed we need and we have the partners in place who support these initiatives do it you can see that today with the support of our team in the ndp caucus which has strong representation of nurses you see it in terms of the support in the work with the bc by the bc college of nurses and midwives by the bc nurses union and by nurses across british colombia who support these initiatives even as they do the remarkable work that nurses do every day in our health care system so we're very honored very excited about today's announcement that ends the announcement we're now going to take questions from the media i'm going to invite premier eb back to the podium premier thanks for joining us we'll now take questions from the media media please be advised you'll be limited to one question and one follow-up if you're on the phone line haven't already please press star one to enter the queue we're going to start on the phone line with richards has been global news go ahead richard premier eb welcome back we see these emergency operation centers open across the province today the announcement you're making today is largely forward thinking but what are you doing to address the severe staffing crisis we are experiencing in hospitals and other parts of the system now that is compounded by the fact that we are over 100 capacity at some hospitals across the province and for minister dicks there's been one doctor quite vocal dr kevin mcleod about bill 36 in essence he says your government is shutting down the ability of frontline workers to communicate directly to the public about the concerns they are seeing in the system are you in fact doing that through bill 36 stopping medical professionals their ability to communicate around their concerns their feeling in the system thanks richard i think for all british colombians who are seeing the strain in our health care system as we see record numbers of people with the flu season that we're having with the ongoing covid pandemic this is an incredibly good news announcement for them this announcement means that there are nurses right now 2000 nurses right now that are in this approval pipeline that could be on the floor in hospitals within 90 days it is a remarkable shift and i don't want that to be missed what we're looking for in government is to make sure that every opportunity that we can find around health care workers making sure that they're assessed trained and on the floor working in hospitals that are facing that strain is what we're focused on so for example we heard from monique and jenny on the international side we also have nurses that have stopped practicing and our in community are thinking about coming back removing every barrier for those nurses to come back into our health care system making sure that nobody is on the sidelines while we're facing this challenge in our health care system that is our focus that's what today's announcement is about it's about responding to these conditions in hospitals certainly for today but looking forward around the sustainability of our health care system this announcement will have important implications for that as well turn over to minister dixon on your second question and just to note uh richard when i became minister of health we were last in canada last in terms of registered nurses per capita and that we essentially didn't have any net new registered nurses in our problems between 2009 and 2016 and those changes take a long time to make and these actions you need to take actions now to address the problems now yes but also into the future and that is i think what premier eb described today uh bill 36 uh just for everybody who want to know what it is this is an amendment to the health professions and now called the health professions and occupations act that was decades overdue it involved extensive consultation including an all-party committee that supported its initiatives all parties of the legislature one of the most significant consultations ever on legislation with indigenous communities and reflect the urgent action we need to take uh uh pursuant to the in-plane site report and other things to to uh to make our system and to respond to issues of anti-indigenous racism as well it simplified the health college system by reducing the number of health regulatory colleges and by ensuring that the public has more access not less access more access to information that was previously not provided to the men uh to the public when disciplinary actions took place the most extensive thousands of people involved in the consultation the most extensive action all parties involved in the process extensive consultation with indigenous people with health professions and i think it's uh it's a very strong piece of legislation and uh we're going to be working with health colleges to see that it's implemented in the coming months thank you all Richard and premier uh i'm sure you've seen uh some of the video over the last week about deplorable conditions uh in sros i know something's raised concerns about in the past as well uh we're showing more tonight on global around st helens hotel where the elevator hasn't been working for nine months i know there's a formal review under place now where an independent group will come in and review sros but does there need to be an immediate uh help here in terms of allowing people a place to address to get their concerns addressed about the living conditions in sros uh and for minister dix uh we also have a story tonight and our understanding is there has been a disagreement around mental health beds at peace arch hospital your province announced it last year but uh there were questions about um who is going to staff it and that currently is sitting empty uh with disagreements between the ministry uh and the health authority can you talk about what's going on here and when will those beds start becoming functioning for mental health at peace arch hospital uh thanks richard one thing is is really clear to british columbians and it and it uh it didn't take these latest news stories to make it clear to them these sros these old residential hotels in the downtown east side are not uh fit housing we need to uh have a plan for phasing out the sros replacing them with dignified housing for people and that's exactly what we're doing uh for the downtown east side as a whole we need an integrated plan and we need someone to bottom line it and that's why the provincial government has stepped up to do that work uh we've had our first meetings convening uh service providers from the downtown east side convening uh key stakeholders from the chinatown community from the downtown east side itself uh convening different levels of government in all different meetings talking about the future of the downtown east side phasing out these sros getting rid of them replacing them with decent housing and having a unified plan for the downtown east side starting with the encampments and moving on to uh to providing proper housing the sros are actually feeding into our homelessness problem because during the summer when they're unlivable for people uh they move out and they sleep in the park instead even though they have a place uh that's technically uh fit for them to live it is not acceptable to me it's not acceptable to british columbians we're going to address it but it will take some time we didn't get here overnight in the downtown east side i was working on these issues when i was a baby lawyer on the downtown east side many years ago and and disturbingly uh the the downtown east side i haven't seen it worse so we're going to take the leadership we're going to take uh make the commitment uh to british columbians that we're going to do the work that's needed the sros are one symptom of the larger problem we face in the downtown east side and we're not going to let it slide we're going to work on it with respect to peace arch hospital as you know um we've made uh major capital investment in peace arch hospital it was um many years delayed uh we found the funding we've delivered and implemented uh those capital improvements to the hospital which will increase the quality of care for everyone and so with respect to issues around beds i don't think you characterize it as a disagreement between the ministry of health and the health authorities i don't think that's the case and we're working to ensure that people have the services they need as soon as possible next question will be mirah baines from cbc go ahead mirah so this question is for the bc nurses union as well as mr dix and minister dix we're hoping to get the answer in french um we've seen some movement here on helping uh internationally trained nurses with application fees but i'm wondering about language and that's quite important in terms of getting their english up to speed will there be any support for that we we've heard of other provinces and problems with english proficiency tests i'm wondering is there more support in terms of training or money that's going towards that to the comprehension and uh the language which is an important element in these processes uh the college of nurses is doing and is making changes to uh to facilitate this process is i would say that i'm going to ask i'm on birwell and i'm going to ask sylvia johansson to speak on on the issue of language and the issues of language proficiency because if you you see in the announcement today there are changes in the way that the college of nurses immuno has dealt and is dealing with those issues with respect to the the supports we're giving yes that's one important element of the training sometimes that's required or the changes or the things that people need to do when they arrive here and these are significant changes that we're making in addition to what we did last april we're ensuring that the supports are available upfront so people don't have to pay and then get reimbursed but they can go directly into the system and certainly uh those language proficiency issues are a key part of that but i'm going to ask maybe sylvia first and then i'm going to speak to this issue if that's okay um so thank you for the question um the college has actually been involved in a project nationally with other regulators of nurses to look at the standards and requirements the benchmarks for language proficiency and we've made some changes and we've implemented them these changes not only help to ensure that we've matched the right score requirement on things like speaking and reading and hearing um with the work that's required to nurse so we have been very thoughtful about making sure that we do not in any way compromise safety by reducing or misaligning the requirements but also ensuring that the requirements that we have in place are reasonable and that people can for the most part meet them so that's what we've done and we've made those changes um we've implemented a couple of other sort of process changes so that people can meet it upfront and quickly um and again the funding supports that have been offered by the provincial government will be key to helping move people through the process faster so that if they have to take a language proficiency test that they have funding in place to pay for it so you know thank you to the government the minister in particular for looking at ways to ensure that we have that funding in place for these international applicants thank you for the question and thank you to Cynthia for coming up first so today's announcement just does that that it ensures that there is funding available for our members who are future members that will be working at the bed sides that they are able to have those proficiencies and with mentorship and through Rita Parick's work that she does with the NCAS that all is together a collaborative effort to ensure that this is a success for the internationally educated nurses thank you follow up Mira sister minister Dixon and English and French please again um uh this is about emergency operation centers what specific data or factors were used to inform the provincial decision to reopen these centers and what does that signal about the the current stage of the pandemic um uh well the reason we put them in place and we're preparing for those as we saw relatively high levels of census in our uh in hospitals over the Christmas period and then uh just past it so on December 31st uh for example we had roughly 9600 people in hospital in bc at a time when generally overall census should be going down or should be lower than that we expected as we came back to full operations for surgeries and everything else uh last week that we'd see that number increase and it did um to a high of 10,280 last Wednesday to 10,226 on Thursday which was the was part of my announcement on Friday today that number is 10,061 just put it in context it bounces around and it has trended down over the last four or five days the reason you put this in place right now is to support our staff and to support patients to make sure that if we if patients need to leave the hospital they're ready to leave the hospital that they have the supports necessary to that in place and there's a series of measures that have already been taken to do that people added in staffing place patient care coordinators added to support uh that work uh that's done by the health system so what was the standard there are standards pretty straightforward there are a lot of people in hospital historically high levels of people in hospital that we're facing the most challenging period in healthcare which is typically January and February we're in the midst of a respiratory illness season and a pandemic that's uh uh health systems are dealing with around the world and so the reason to put these these emergency operation centers in place across the province was to assist in that support our healthcare staff and mostly to support our patients in challenging times so that's the reason they're in place and that's why we put them there they're at that level in french i would say very simply that there are a lot of people in the hospital and uh it's true all over the province right and we have put these centers in place in 20 20 hospitals all over the province in each healthcare system because we had to do it we had 10,226 people in the hospital today it's 10,1061 and i think it was necessary to support our workers our professionals in health care our nurses our doctors and our workers in health care to support them in a difficult time to put in place seven days set of support for the people the patients in the hospitals and especially those who are ready to leave the hospital and who in need of support from our community to ensure seven days on seven that these processes are in place for people and to support our people people who are sick in our province and that's the reason why we have this decision great next question will be from Lisa Yusta city news 1130 go ahead Lisa good morning just following a bit up on Mira's question about financial support so what support is there you know i um Jenny and talked about spending thousands on education after her application and Monique talked about thousands yourself as well so what support is there for additional education that iens will receive when they once their application process is approved and they're told you need to do these x number of courses is that paid for or do they have to um is there funding available for that it's pretty straightforward it's a very expensive assessment process um for internationally educated nurses and there are costs for nurses who are returning to practice and so in the in both cases those those are bursaries of of uh up to ten thousand dollars which help create and help pay for the various costs people have both to meet and to pass those requirements and this is a significant impediment and what's changed today in addition is that a significant number of those costs will be paid upfront by essentially the ministry of health directly to the college and not have people have to put the money up front and then apply afterward something that is very challenging for people so as we went through this process which has received i think an exceptional response in the last few months uh where since april we've seen a significant increase in both interest and application uh to practice in british columbia that this was one of the issues that we wanted to address and that's why uh these funds are in place and i think uh it represents an important change for people so that they're not dramatically out of pocket this is uh let's be frank nurses are in significant demand and to put impediments in the system both in time which cost money and in costs for people simply to apply and go through our process is not the best approach we want people uh working providing care for uh for patients whether it's in camber river or anywhere else in the province and that's why these changes have been brought in follow up lisa yeah can i suppose this is for you minister ebi um i've just called you minister premier ebi um the funding is coming to people around the province that the the one time um rebate check but like bonus check for people in the province to help with uh rising costs wondering if there's anything more that people will see before the budget or will any other additional support be held off until we see it in the budget um so certainly we understand that british columbians are facing cost pressures today uh rising costs that are affecting uh their ability to do things like buy groceries and make rents and so on and so we've certainly taken the approach that british columbians need support immediately so in the first 50 days of of uh my new role uh we have done things like the bc hydro credit 100 dollar credit for people in their hydro bills we've done support around the affordability credit that you're talking about making sure that low and middle-income british columbians have support with the costs of everyday life we've frozen uh car insurance rates for two years for parents with kids in child care they are seeing literally thousands of dollars in some cases in their pocket every month that they used to have to spend on child care you can expect that we will continue to take this approach to affordability in the province every opportunity we see to support british columbians we will do so uh because we know that families and seniors and individuals are feeling the strain uh in our province right now next question will be bender sedgem from ctd go ahead bender hi there um i'm just wondering if you can talk a little bit about and maybe this is for maybe for the minister as well in terms of um the gap uh in terms of how many nurses are actually required right now uh when we look at those who are in the application process when you expect some of those nurses and maybe uh on the front lines in health care and also you know what you expect that gap to be in the coming years due to retirement so you know how far um along we are in terms of addressing the gap in nursing uh thanks uh we've seen remarkable uptake since the changes that uh that minister dicks uh announced with uh key partners recently around internationally educated nurses we have 2000 nurses right now that are in the approvals pipeline with the college with the assessment service and those are the nurses that are going to see benefit right away uh from this announcement today uh where uh i understand that there will be nurses potentially on the ground within 90 days of this announcement thanks to these changes uh beyond that i understand there are more than 5000 nurses that have expressed interest in coming to practice in british columbia and uh addressing these barriers of the upfront costs uh the uh length of time of training is going to help encourage them to to go from being interested to actually making that application and starting work so we need all those nurses and more we have uh more than 600 new spaces and post-secondary education training new nurses uh so it's all hands on deck to get nurses there in terms of specific numbers i'll turn it over to uh minister dicks uh to provide some context just the context is what you know we were last in canada in 2017 last meaning you know 10th would be good if it was the united states and there were 50 provinces but there's only 10 and we were last and we were last by a good margin and we were last because of some deliberate policy decision been made by governments we expect the highest level of nursing in british columbia and all the people here the college bc nurses union everyone else supports that we have led canada led canada in new registered nurses per capita since 2017 but when you start from last you've got a ways to go so being number one isn't enough so the answer is we need to do it all we need to support people returning to nursing we've done that during the pandemic on a temporary basis the support of the college is nursing support of the bc nurses union we've got to continue to do so we've got to improve pathways for internationally educated nurses but we can't just depend on other jurisdictions to support our health system here so we need to add spaces in bc we've done that as well we need to allow and support nurses who want to progress in their career and take on new responsibilities and new opportunities and you talked about lpn to registered nurse but also registered nurse to nurse practitioner we've more than doubled the number of nurse practitioners we have practicing in british columbia in in five years again we were last now we're not we need to do better so the answer is we need to do all of these things and and this is very important part of the health human resources plan we need to retain people who are nurses and that means addressing quality of life in hospitals and in the community for nurses we've got to address issues of attrition because we need to bring people here and support them when we're here and that's why the important change is to improve security and to improve safety of nurses that we worked on in collaboration with the bc nurses union and the hospital employees union and the health sciences association that were brought in place a few months ago that received their support are so important we need to improve quality of life as well thank you for the question bender and thank you minister dicks and premier e so welcome news to hear that there are 2000 nurses in the process right now to take advantage of today's announcement and that there are 5000 wanting to come here at the moment there are as of this past spring 5200 vacancies here in bc and by 2031 we need 26 000 new nurses and so these announcements today that there are these numbers of people wanting to come in to work here in bc is very welcome news and will help to fill some of those gaps so we're looking forward to being able to have these nurses come in and to mentor them because they will need the mentoring and supports along the way and it's going to be exciting for us to be able to get more nurses to support the nurses that are already on the front lines thank you do you have a follow-up bender sort of what the overall cost for this program is expected to be um is that money coming from this budget year will there be money in the coming years as well for this as well and also just wondering if there are any other barriers that you see to internationally educated nurses or others getting back into the field yes and i think if you look at the details of the proposal you see the many steps bc colleges of nurses and midwives are taking to address that including addressing issues of language that Cynthia Johansson just spoke to two issues of assessing the value of credentials from other jurisdictions and and broadening that out so that people can start to work in British Columbia and start to work quickly the triple track changes allowing people to be assessed for multiple positions in nursing that we introduced last April are part of that there's more we can do and more we are doing that's significant uh all of this was budgeted for in the current budget year so it's it's in the base and will be funded in previous years we're not the issue here the value of this of this work is cost saving and not costing us money because filling positions and having people work come here and work assists all of us and assists existing nurses as you know because we've talked about this many times the challenge of overtime is not just the challenge of cost for the system but it's a personal challenge for many nurses in our system and so having people step in and do this work means that the the money we spend to support new nurses coming into the system is always money well spent thank you next question from from Rob Shaw check news go ahead Rob hi premier you're halfway through your 100 day plan are you where you wanted to be when you started and talked with a bit about that thanks it's it's been a very exciting first 50 days and I'm very grateful to to many partners in British Columbia who have come forward to support us in making necessary changes to make sure that we're fulfilling our mandate and our commitment that we made to British Columbians in the last election I'm really happy with how the first 50 days have gone providing support to family seniors individuals across the province financially through their hydro bills through the affordability credit through the child care support through freezing ICBC rates making sure that the rents are under control for renters that are facing additional expenses and putting into place the frameworks that we're going to need to move forward on critical issues around public safety including issues like the downtown east side and other issues in downtown cores across the province new police officers but also new mental health responses to make sure the police are focused on crime instead of responding to mental health around the health care system today's announcement the the deal that minister Dix and his team worked out with the physicians the work that has been underway with the paramedics that continues with the nurses to make sure that our health care system is strong going forward I'm really excited about how the first 50 days have gone I'm looking forward to the next 50 and the next 50 after that to a follow-up not yeah I mean it's an impressive list when you write it down but you've sort of mentioned again today that you gauge the success based on visible progress that people see you know in a tangible way in in the real world and when you look at health care or you know the downtown east side or whatever it's a little bit harder to make the argument that things have visibly improved so can you reconcile for us the 50 days of accomplishments and the sort of lack of overall improvement in in the big areas that you've been talking about sure there are british columbians today that have more money in their pocket for the expenses of everyday life than they did on day one when I started this is parents with kids in child care this is people who pay bc hydro bills this is people who are low and middle income in our province facing increased costs there are people right now who are renting strata units that previously it was illegal for them to rent I've had two people in my own constituents we come forward and say listen thank you so much for making that change around around the conno units I have rented out a place I moved in with my boyfriend a young woman told me and and I wanted to keep my place but I wasn't allowed to rent it and so sitting empty and now I'm renting it out and that makes a difference for people in ways that they can see in touch these are real things in the first seven weeks on the job and and today's announcement this will mean new nurses on the floor of our hospitals in 90 days so we're moving quickly to address these issues that british columbians are seeing in their community and of course there are pieces that take longer to put in place you need to train those new police officers before they're in the community you need to train those community mental health workers but that work is happening right now it is underway and in those 18 months that I have that our government has before the next election that is my goal that british columbians are going to see those changes on those issues that are priorities for them great next we're going to come to the floor with ryan bailey from bc it news go ahead ryan so how do you plan on encouraging more young people coming out of secondary school to consider nursing as a career because many of them are feeling very discouraged or not even considering it in the first place first of all it's the best work you could possibly do it's the best work you could possibly do helping people when they need help it requires an extraordinary level and i think this is true of nursing in canada where the level of autonomy for nurses in canada for opportunity is exceptional and of course there are challenges of course there are but we have i think more opportunity for nurses than we've ever had we've have in fact one of our issues is that there is so much opportunity because we're going to continue to see demand in healthcare if you want a profession that will give you satisfaction in your entire life where you'll be able to grow in your profession nursing is an extraordinary choice to make at every level and if we know anything during the pandemic dealing with all of the issues that we have to deal with the role of nursing has become more important more significant in our system and it will we're going to have twice as many people over 75 and 10 years right which means that healthcare is going to be required we talk about needing thousands more nurses in the future it's for that reason it is exceptional work it is skilled work it is satisfying work you have extraordinary colleagues and support opportunities to grow in the profession i think young people are going to take up nursing and take up those hundreds of new spaces there are for nurses in every part of the province and i think what's finally important is that it's not just here in metro vancouver if we're going to have nurses caring for people in fort st john or in smithers or in prince george we need to train people in those places and that's what we're doing and that's what's changed as well and so it is an exceptional opportunity i want to say finally we have lots of work to do in terms of healthcare in terms of ensuring that indigenous people at every level in our healthcare system are supported and our leaders in the healthcare system and that involves nursing as well so we're creating more opportunities there's significant opportunities for people to take it will be i can tell you because all of the evidence suggests this a lifetime of work and opportunities to grow and be and be supported and do something that may be more important everything of course that people choose to do is and can be important but it's hard to imagine if something more important to people in our province in our communities in our neighborhoods and nursing do you follow it right um yeah so there's been significant investment into these educational facilities but can you talk a bit about how the enrollment numbers have been and if you're seeing what you've been expecting for these facilities i think the enrollment numbers are good i think the opportunities are very good right in nursing we've got to continue to make the case i'll just give you an example which is part of nursing as healthcare assistance and we started a program that was tied in deeply tied in to post-secondary institutions in bc called the h-cap program which along with other infection control work in infection control were major initiatives at the time when long-term care was at the center of the pandemic well we've added net 7 000 people to that system and they've come through in larger sex bc post-secondary institutions and are working as healthcare assistance and we changed the way that we dealt with healthcare assistance to a group of workers who have been treated frankly disrespectfully for decades prior to 2017 and we raised their their level their rights by getting rid of a bill called bill 29 which is significant during the pandemic when we put in a single site order we raised the salary level of people who are in the contracted sector to make that valuable work to do so that people can do that work that is so essential to people living in long-term care and actually be paid and respected to do that work and that change has made a dramatic difference such that we promised 7 000 before before the 2020 election we've delivered 7 000 people in a labor shortage in a labor shortage economy which is an exceptional achievement so yes i believe people will come and we and it's very important that in addition to the work we're doing with international educated nurses that we continue to train people here and when they enter the workplace that we support them there sufficiently and that's the work we have to do as well and shouldn't be forgotten when they get there next question going back to the phone line with rob buffoon from ctv then cover island go ahead rob oh hi there i'm just trying to get some clarity in terms of the actual number of new nurses you anticipate uh we'll be working within four to nine months as a result of today's announcement you've talked with the fact there's 2000 nurses in the system that will be expedited uh and 5000 or some odd who'd expressed interest but realistically nine months from now how many new nurses will be working in bc as a result of today's announcement do you expect well what we'll be doing is reporting regularly on it on success and reporting that out to you and so different different nurses who are in the system now are at different points in that system 2000 we that 2000 we expect more and more into the future because this is a process that will build now and into the future so what we'll do rob is not uh talk about what we expect but rather report on what is happening in the system and you'll get regular reports on that to inform your your viewers about uh yeah this question is from is gray wall and i'm wondering about you've called today's announcements in very positive steps but acknowledged more needs to be done i'm wondering we've seen as recently as november 200 nurses have said and i'm a general hospital rallying and protesting because they're overwhelmed what do you think their reaction will be and what what is your you know realistically and what's your reaction is this going to make a big dent to the situation where many nurses are feeling overworked and overwhelmed well i think this gives them hope and that's what we've all been waiting for is hope that there are nurses coming because throughout the pandemic and prior to the pandemic the opioid crisis and the staffing shortages that they've been dealing with you know they are looking for some relief to be able to have a work-life balance and so i think that this brings hope and i hope that those nurses are listening and we'll see that there are nurses that are wanting to work this is such a noble profession i've been at it for 36 years and i have to say you know what i'm still proud to be a nurse i have had the wealth of experience to work from a surgical unit to pediatrics to emergency diabetes clinics a site leader a patient care coordinator you name it the opportunities are so great and i encourage everybody that is interested to get into the profession to please get in i do understand from Cynthia that there is a waitlist at all the schools but you know what that's a good thing to hear that there are wait lists so this gives us hope thank you and our last question will be coming from justine hunter from the global mail go ahead justine i was hoping to ask so thank you for doing that rob but let me just try and follow up i'd like to get a sense of the net increases in nursing so you said 38 000 net new healthcare workers what is the figure for nurses and can you give us a sense of the attrition rate yeah what i'll do is i'll uh i want the the numbers from last month or so but what we can easily provide that and we will in the next hour justine and there's a number of ways you can look at it but number of nurses who are licensed in the province has registered nurses in lpm so we've been leading in new nurses since 2017 but obviously compared to other jurisdictions we have less nurses per capita than other jurisdictions we do because we started at a lower level after a number of years of frankly intentional steps that under that disrespected the value of care and so uh we're taking those steps particular steps that happened for registered nurses in 2009 and 10 and obviously happened for all nurses in 2002 yeah uh thanks um you've said a few times here that bc was last in amongst the provinces in 2017 in our ends per capita so where do we rank right now and uh of course i just sorry let me finish because i'm going to try and do a richard's us and a jam one more question in here um their provinces of course are also trying to improve their programs to recruit these same nurses that we're trying to attract so how are we doing compared to other provinces in recruiting these nurses well i think we have to work with other provinces i think it's the responsibility of all jurisdictions to work together to increase the number of nurses we're training domestically in each of our jurisdictions because we know and people know what live in canada know that uh frequently people come from other parts of the country and frequently they come from other parts of the country to british columbia so all of um our jurisdictions are working in the same direction we made our announcement in april other jurisdictions followed and i and when they they take steps we look at them as well to see what we can do so we need to train more all of us we need to provide better pathways internationally educate nurses all of us the federal government has to play its role in supporting health care in canada something it seems increasingly reluctant to do uh but they need to be involved as well and so when you ask where we are since then we're number one in terms of the number of registered nurses per capita added to the system since 2017 and again we can give you those details to the number uh year by year to to show that in time for your deadline justine and look forward to doing that so we were 10th we are first but we've got a long way to go and ultimately it doesn't matter and i think um harvinder and susie and aumann would agree with this it doesn't matter whether we're better than you brunswick although we were worse and we're now better it matters that we have nurses there to treat patients when they need it and to support other nurses uh so that they can live um positive fulfilling lives outside of the workplace and in the workplace as well so what's important is the nurses that are on the floor and that's why well we've done well relative to other jurisdictions we got to do a lot better in the next few years thank you for joining us