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Nova Scotia’s recruitment trip to Kenyan refugee camp results in 65 conditional job offers

Nova Scotia has made conditional job offers to 65 people who are currently in a refugee camp in Kenya.

The offers, for positions as continuing care assistants, are the result of a recent recruitment trip to the African nation, the province said.

“One of the biggest challenges we face is finding the right healthcare professionals to fill the vacancies we have across Nova Scotia,” said Health and Wellness Minister Michelle Thompson, the Minister responsible for the Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment. “There are talented and skilled people around the world who would love to come here, and we would love to have them.”

The province led the trip to a Kenyan refugee camp in partnership with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Health Association of Nova Scotia, and MacLeod Group, which provides senior care across Atlantic Canada, as well as refugee-focused charities The Shapiro Foundation and RefugePoint.

The new continuing care assistants are expected to start arriving in mid-2023 and will work in the continuing care sector in communities across the province.

They were recruited through the federal Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot, which identifies refugees with much-needed skills who meet regional and provincial immigration requirements.

Nova Scotia has already supported 42 applicants through the pilot, including more than 20 continuing care assistants now working in the continuing care system.

The Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot supports refugees immigrating to Canada by:

• waiving the application and biometric fees
• speeding up the application process so it is complete within six months
• covering the cost of pre-departure medical services and medical exams
• offering loans to cover travel costs and helping people settle in their new communities.

“It’s so valuable for employers and others in Nova Scotia to be able to see first-hand the number of highly skilled and educated people living as refugees,” said Bahati Ernestine Hategekimana, nursing student, former continuing care assistant and RefugePoint economic mobility consultant. “This program will continue to offer hope and solutions for refugees and their families to build their new lives here, while contributing their skills to ease Nova Scotia’s labour shortages.”