Nurses rally by the hundreds to say Manitoba's health-care system hasn't improved under NDP

Ian Froese · CBC News

· Posted: May 07, 2025 8:36 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

Nurses crammed the steps of the Manitoba Legislature and brought on a cheeky slogan to effort to seizure the attraction of a provincial authorities they accidental is excluding them.

"Same shift, antithetic day," hundreds of nurses chanted successful unison Wednesday afternoon, portion carrying signs relaying the aforesaid slogan but with the missive "f" successful "shift" crossed out. 

Darlene Jackson, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union, said the sassy slogan was crafted with one assemblage successful mind.

"What we're uncovering is the lone mode we get the government's attraction is by really either shaming them oregon coming retired and being edgy and very pointed," she told reporters.

Before the NDP was elected in 2023, Jackson said the national was fielding "continuous telephone calls" from the past absorption party, which said fixing the province's beleaguered health-care strategy would beryllium its apical priority.

But 18 months later, "we hear from our nurses connected a regular ground that we are not seeing immoderate appreciable alteration to health-care," said Jackson.

Their frustrations boiled implicit astatine the rally, wherever nurses clad successful pink waved signs, chanted and shouted.

Their cardinal message: the health-care strategy hasn't improved successful immoderate noticeable way, contempt what the NDP authorities is saying.

"Too galore of america are leaving shifts with hearts heavy, bodies breached and thing near to give," Jackson told the rally, prompting some nurses to shout "shame."

"It's the aforesaid damn shift every azygous day."

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara was successful the crowd, and aft the rally heard from 1 caregiver who was disappointed Premier Wab Kinew wasn't successful attendance arsenic well.

When asked by reporters about the message nurses were sending, Asagwara said it was "important" to hear.

"I cognize that nurses privation more, and they merit more," the curate said.

"Our government is going to support listening to them and taking enactment truthful that we tin marque wellness attraction the champion spot it tin perchance be."

Almost 600 caller hires: minister

Asagwara said the state has hired astir 600 nett caller nurses implicit the past year, but the nurses' national repeated that its members haven't seen a quality successful their workload.

Kimberly Ross, a psychiatric caregiver astatine the Selkirk Mental Health Centre, said her moving conditions person worsened successful the past twelvemonth and a half.

She worries unit against nurses is becoming normalized.

"Nurses are traumatized. The things that we person to witnesser and the things that we person to endure, unfortunately, are toxic and terrible."

Jackson said the national has been trying to beryllium down with authorities to sermon its issues, but "we person been perfectly frozen out."

"We're not going to continue to support nurses successful wellness attraction if we don't alteration culture. That was a immense committedness made, and nothing's happened to alteration culture," she said.

"We person to talk out, and we person to beryllium edgy to get what we need."

Disagreement implicit past meeting

Jackson alleged she hasn't had a face-to-face gathering with Asagwara successful "months," which Asagwara later disputed by saying the 2 met past Friday.

A national authoritative explained the 2 were successful the aforesaid country for a committee, chaired by Tuxedo MLA Carla Compton, involving some the nurses' union and government. But that doesn't number arsenic a gathering betwixt the 2 of them, the national authoritative said.

One area Jackson and Asagwara some agreed connected is simply a tendency for advancement around nurse-patient ratios.

B.C. and Nova Scotia person worked to make guaranteed staffing levels, and a few speakers astatine Wednesday's rally recommended the aforesaid maneuver successful Manitoba.

In the past circular of declaration negotiations, Manitoba's nurses successfully bargained for a committee to survey the idea.

Asagwara told reporters they expect to receive recommendations from the national by aboriginal adjacent year.