U.S. nurses choose Canada over the U.S. under Trump : NPR

Nurses Brandy Frye (left) and Susan Fleishman work night shifts at the Regional General Hospital in Nanaimo, British Columbia. Both said they left their longtime jobs in the United States last year to get away from President Trump’s politics and hate speech.

Taylor Pradine/KFF Health News

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Taylor Pradine/KFF Health News

Last month, Justin and Amy Miller packed their vehicles with three children, two dogs, a bearded dragon and all the personal belongings they could hold, then drove 2,000 miles from Wisconsin to British Columbia to leave President Trump’s America.

The Millers resettled on Vancouver Island, their picturesque retreat accessible only by ferry or plane. Justin went to work in the emergency room at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, where he became one of at least 20 U.S.-trained nurses hired since April.

Trump, some nurses said, was the reason they left.

“There are so many like-minded people,” said Justin, who now works shoulder to shoulder with Americans in Canada. “You’re not trapped. You don’t have to stay. Healthcare workers are welcomed with open arms everywhere.”

The Millers are part of a new wave of American nurses, doctors and other health-care workers moving to Canada, and specifically British Columbia, where more than 1,000 U.S.-trained nurses have been approved to work since April.

Many nurses have felt the pull of Canada’s progressive politics, friendly reputation and universal health care system, which contrast with what they see as authoritarian policies under Trump as well as deep cuts in funding for public health, insurance and medical research.

Additionally, some nurses were furious last year when the Trump administration announced it would reclassify nursing as a nonprofessional degree, which would place strict federal limits on the loans nursing students could receive.

Canada is ready to capitalize. Two of the most populous provinces, Ontario and British Columbia, have streamlined the licensing process for American nurses since Trump returned to the White House. British Columbia also launched a $5 million ad campaign last year to recruit nurses from California, Oregon and Washington state.

“With chaos and uncertainty in the United States, we are seizing the opportunity to attract the talent we need,” Josie Osborne, the province’s health minister, said in a statement announcing the campaign.

Fears realized

Amy Miller, a nurse practitioner, said she and her husband were determined to move their children out of the country because they believed Trump’s second term would inevitably escalate into violence.

First, the Millers obtained a nursing license in New Zealand, but when the job search took too long, they moved to Canada.

Justin was offered a job within a few weeks.

Amy found one in three months.

So they moved. And a few days later, the Millers watched in horror as their fears came true.

As federal immigration enforcement clashed with protesters in Minneapolis on Jan. 24, federal agents shot and killed an intensive care nurse, Alex Pretti, as he filmed a confrontation and appeared to try to protect a woman who had been knocked down. Video of the killing shows border agents pinning Pretti to the ground before grabbing his concealed, licensed handgun and then opening fire on him.

The Trump administration quickly labeled Pretti a “domestic terrorist” who intended to kill federal agents. The claim was disputed by eyewitness videos that circulated on social media and sparked widespread outrage, including from nurses and nursing organizations, some of whom cited the profession’s duty to care for the vulnerable.

“I don’t want to say it was planned, but that’s why we’re here,” Amy Miller said. “Even our oldest said, ‘It’s okay, Mom, because we’re not here anymore. We’re safe here.’ So she recognizes it, and she’s not even in middle school yet.”

The United States and Canada have a dire need for nurses. The United States is expected to have a shortage of about 270,000 registered nurses, plus at least 120,000 licensed practical nurses, by 2028, according to recent estimates from the Health Resources and Services Administration. In Canada, nursing job vacancies tripled between 2018 and 2023, when they reached nearly 42,000, according to a recent report from the Montreal Economic Institute, a Canadian think tank.

When asked for comment, the White House noted that industry data shows the number of registered nurses in the United States increased in 2025. It dismissed stories of nurses moving to Canada as “anecdotes of individuals suffering from severe cases of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

“America’s health care workforce is the best in the world and it continues to grow under President Trump,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said. “Employment opportunities in the U.S. healthcare system remain strong, with career progression and salaries that far exceed those in other developed countries.”

“A feeling of relief”

It’s unclear exactly how many American nurses have moved north since Trump returned to office because some Canadian provinces don’t track or publish such statistics.

British Columbia, which has done the most to recruit Americans, approved the licensing applications of 1,028 U.S.-trained nurses between the province’s streamlined application process taking effect in April 2025 and January, according to the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives. Through 2023, only 112 U.S. applicants have been approved, the agency said. In 2024, there would be 127.

Increased interest from American nurses has also been confirmed by the Ontario and Alberta Nursing Associations, as well as the National Nurses Association of Canada.

Angela Wignall, CEO of Nurses and Nurse Practitioners of British Columbia, said American nurses were moving north because they fell in love with Canada (or a Canadian). But more recently, she said, she encountered nurses who worried that the White House was encouraging violence and vigilantism, particularly against families including same-sex couples.

“Some of them lived in fear of the administration and shared a sense of relief when they crossed the border,” Wignall said. “As a Canadian, it’s heartbreaking. And also a joy to welcome them.”

Vancouver Island, population about 860,000, has welcomed 64 U.S.-trained nurses since April, including those from the Nanaimo area, said Andrew Leyne, a spokesman for the island’s health agency.

One of the nurses was Susan Fleishman, a Canadian who moved to the United States as a child and then worked for 23 years in American emergency rooms before leaving the country in November.

Fleishman said Trump’s hateful rhetoric has fueled an angry division that has permeated and embittered American life.

“It wasn’t an easy decision, that’s for sure. But I think it’s definitely worth it,” she said, happy to be back in Canada. “I think there’s a lot more kindness here. And I think that’s going to keep me here.”

Brandy Frye, an American nurse who also worked for decades in emergency rooms, said she moved to Vancouver Island last year after waiting to see if Mark Carney would become Canada’s prime minister. Carney’s rise was widely seen as a rejection of Trumpism.

During that time, Frye said, the California hospital where she worked removed words associated with diversity and equity from its materials to appease the Trump administration. She couldn’t stand it.

“It felt like a step against everything I believe in,” Frye said. “And I didn’t feel like I belonged there anymore.”

Like many American nurses who moved to Vancouver Island, Frye was first lured to the area by a viral video that aimed to attract tourist dollars, but ended up doing much more.

About a year ago, social media content creator and former CBC Radio host Tod Maffin invited Americans to the port city of Nanaimo for a weekend designed to offset the impact of Trump’s tariffs on the local economy.

Maffin said about 350 people attended the April event.

“Many of them were health care workers looking for an escape route,” Maffin said. “They were there to help support our economy, but also to look at Canada.”

Maffin saw an opportunity. He turned the event website into a recruiting tool and launched a Discord chat room to help Americans move.

Maffin said he believes the campaign helped about 35 health-care workers relocate to Vancouver Island. Volunteers from more than 30 other Canadian communities have since replicated its website in an effort to attract their own American nurses and doctors.

“There are communities across Canada where the emergency room closes at night because a nurse is absent. That’s how limited the staff is,” Maffin said.

“A new nurse in a small town or a mid-sized city like Nanaimo,” he says, “makes a difference.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism on health issues and is one of the major operating programs of KFF.