The president of the New Brunswick Nurses Union says a nursing shortage is being felt in every sector and every facility in the province with rural areas being the most affected.
Paula Doucet says rural areas have smaller numbers to pool nurses from than urban areas.
Being the only officially bilingual province in Canada, she notes New Brunswick is in a unique position.
Doucet says employers have an obligation to ensure enough personnel are capable of providing servce in the language of choice.
“Whether you are Anglophone or Francophone that you be served in your language most preferred. So I think there are some efforts by the employer to ensure that they have the appropriate number of English and French speaking staff available,” she says.
Speaking with her colleagues across the country, Doucet adds many other provinces besides New Brunswick are also experiencing nursing shortages.
