I was in beautiful Whitehorse, Yukon recently where we brought together a group from across Canada to focus on one of the most pressing challenges facing our health system: strengthening the health workforce in rural and remote communities to improve access to care.
What struck me most was the openness of participants. They were passionate about their communities and eager to learn from one another, share experiences, and shape something new together. They listened deeply, shared candidly, and worked across professional and jurisdictional boundaries. It was truly inspiring and gave me hope for what we can build together.
What we heard from the group was clear. The challenges are complex, shared, and growing – and they cannot be addressed by any one organization or jurisdiction alone.
We also heard about the remarkable innovation already happening in rural and remote communities. Across the country, communities are finding creative ways to tackle workforce challenges. These are learnings we can apply more broadly across Canada – and even internationally. There is real potential for Canada to be a leader in this space.
Shared pressures, and solutions
The pressures facing health workers and communities across the country are felt especially hard in rural and remote communities, where there is often less flexibility in the workforce to respond to growing needs.
These challenges may look different from one community to another, but many are shared. Addressing them will require us to learn from one another and work together.
In Whitehorse, we heard the importance of engaging more broadly to ensure we focus on the issues that matter most to rural and remote communities. Priorities ranging from recruitment and retention, to cultural safety, to scopes of practice and models of care.
Participants also emphasized the need to build on solutions that are already working. Rural and remote communities have developed innovative approaches to many of these challenges, and we should start by leveraging them and strengthening what already exists.
Why convening counts
Our workshop served to remind us that workforce planning is collective.
Progress depends on bringing people together to:
- align on priorities
- understand trade-offs
- learn from different perspectives
- make coordinated decisions
Data and evidence matter. But even the best information will not lead to change without connection, trust, and a shared commitment to action.
Building on momentum
The discussion in Whitehorse started us in the right direction.
Over the coming year, we will work with partners – including governments, employers, First Nations, Inuit and Métis organizations, clinical leaders, and pan-Canadian organizations – to identify the most important challenges to focus on.
Together we’ll develop actions to support workforce planning in all rural and remote areas across the country, building on the strong foundation of excellent work that already exists.
Working together toward action
We are at a turning point.
The question is no longer whether we understand the challenges. It is whether we can work differently to address them.
That means continuing to bring people together across sectors, jurisdictions, and communities – and committing to act in a more coordinated way.
At Health Workforce Canada, we will continue creating space for those conversations and supporting the connections needed to turn collaboration into action, in rural and remote workforce planning and beyond.
Because getting workforce planning right is not just about generating better information. It is about bringing people together to make decisions, take action and create lasting change for communities that need it most.