The issue
Health workforce planning in rural and remote parts of Canada is shaped by complexity and variation. Communities differ significantly in population health needs, service delivery, workforce capacity, and access to care. Information about geography and population size alone is not sufficient to understand local realities. Likewise, health workforce data alone does not provide clear direction for decision-making. Meaningful planning requires interpreting data alongside local context, lived experience, and system realities to understand why differences exist and how best to respond.
The innovative work
On March 30, 2026, Health Workforce Canada hosted the webinar From Data to Insight: Rural and Remote Health Workforce Planning, bringing together perspectives from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) and the Government of Nunavut. The session emphasized the importance of context in supporting workforce planning for rural and remote communities. In addition to expert presentations, the webinar included a capacity‑building exercise that invited participants to actively engage with health workforce data, creating space for participants to reflect on planning questions and explore how insight emerges through layering information rather than relying on single indicators.
You can watch the full recording below and access here.
Steven Atkinson, Director, Local Analytics,
Canadian Institute for Health Information
- Shared planning resources developed by CIHI to support health system decision-making with a particular focus on rural health systems.
- Emphasized that data isn’t the only voice in health system decision‑making and should be considered alongside other factors at the planning table.
- Explained that geography and population size are commonly used to define rural areas but are insufficient to understand what is happening beneath the surface.
- Highlighted that rural regions that appear similar can differ meaningfully in population health, service delivery, and system performance.
- Noted that solutions designed for urban contexts do not necessarily transmit readily to rural settings, in part because of significant variations across rural communities.
- Described how CIHI’s rural advisory group identified recurring rural health system planning challenges that informed the development of CIHI’s rural planning tools.
- Introduced the Rural Health Systems Model* as a decision‑support and reflection tool to help planners think through variation across rural contexts and described how the model surfaces health system and community context factors that influence population health, health system use, and performance.
- Presented the Rural Health Services Decision Guide, developed to support decisions about starting, stopping, or reconfiguring health services, particularly in rural settings with limited planning capacity.
- Introduced and explained the Health System Context Series as a resource that brings together multiple indicators to support interpretation and help planners move from understanding what is happening to exploring why, noting that the series is organized by province and territory and is intended to be used alongside other information.
- Shared the most recent rural and remote profile, highlighting its role in surfacing variation across jurisdictions and supporting more informed, context‑aware planning discussions.
*Additional resource referenced in the context of this work: CIHI’s Rural Health System Decision-Support Resources
Jennifer Berry, Assistant Deputy Minister of Operations for the Government of Nunavut
- Described Nunavut’s health system context, including remote fly-in communities, multiple time zones and reliance on out‑of‑territory care, noting that distance, travel constraints, and limited local training options make workforce planning challenging and that workforce planning tools designed for urban systems do not fit this reality.
- Outlined the need for tools that work with limited data, reflect community voice, support small teams, adapt quickly to shortages and turnover, and support Inuit employment pathways.
- Outlined a shift from vacancy‑based planning, describing two complementary approaches currently underway:
- A comprehensive, structured community needs‑based planning initiative developed with Dalhousie University. This work begins with community health needs assessments that combine administrative data, population health indicators, and community engagement to identify what services communities should receive and the competencies required to deliver them.
- An approach that operates at the community health centre level and uses existing utilization, registration, medical travel, and medevac data. Jennifer emphasized that this approach allows planning to move forward without waiting for “perfect data” and shows that effective solutions can come from starting small.
- Highlighted the use of function‑based workforce planning across both approaches, where programs are broken down into specific functions and tasks to determine who can safely perform the work, including different professions and paraprofessionals, stressing the importance of reviewing national workforce supply trends to ensure that new models are sustainable and do not create future shortages.
- Shared practical examples of application, including integrating paramedics into primary care, planning the integration of respiratory therapists to support COPD and asthma management, and developing paraprofessional roles such as basic radiology technicians and public health assistants to address service gaps.
- Emphasized the importance of not overcomplicating workforce planning and starting with the data and capacity available.
Amanda Tardif, Program Lead,
Health Workforce Canada
Led a capacity‑building segment focused on how planners can move from data to insight, emphasizing that planning questions at the local level do not always align with how data is presented in existing tools and that baseline data from Health Workforce Canada dashboards and CIHI products can be used as a starting point.
- Emphasized that initial data often raises new questions rather than providing direct answers.
- Guided participants through an interactive exercise using Health Workforce Canada Dashboards and CIHI products to demonstrate how insight emerges through layering multiple data sources and interpreting information alongside qualitative insights, policy context, and local knowledge.
- Shared Health Workforce Canada’s From Data to Insight reports and that additional, more focused workshops will be held later in the year to further explore this approach and support planners in using Health Workforce Canada’s data and planning tools.
Key takeaways
- The webinar reinforced that effective rural and remote health workforce planning depends on context‑aware interpretation rather than reliance on single data points.
- Data and planning tools are most valuable when used as starting points and interpreted alongside local context, lived experience, and system realities.
- Approaches that focus on community needs, required competencies, and sustainability – rather than vacancies alone – better reflect the realities of rural and remote care, ensuring planning aligns with local priorities.
- A central message emphasized throughout the session was the importance of not overcomplicating workforce planning: starting with the data and capacity available and building solutions that fit local context rather than adopting approaches designed for other settings.