On October 30 and 31, 2024 in Montreal, health system leaders, employers, policymakers, health professionals, researchers, caregivers and patients shared ideas for how to support Canada’s health workforce, the people we rely on to deliver health care when we need it.

Health Workforce Canada Connects was Health Workforce Canada’s first symposium, and as a new organization we were thrilled that more than 350 people took the time to share their ideas about what we need to do to ensure that Canada has the health care providers we need required for the future.

People gathered from across the country, in person and virtually, to talk through tough issues on health workforce data, planning, culture, policy, and people, and how we need to work collaboratively to build a strong, healthy workforce.

At the centre of all of our discussions was people.

There is no health care without the outstanding people who collectively are the health care providers and support team members in our healthcare systems across the country.

And there is much work to be done.

Recently, the World Health Organization forecasted that the global shortfall of health workers could be close to 10 million by 2030. CIHI’s data showed Canada had more than 120,000 job vacancies in health in 2022-23.

At our inaugural symposium, we spent two days focused on innovative, sustainable ways to close the gaps. We heard about the need to collaborate and the need to take action. And we heard, loud and clear, that the health workforce community is prepared to do just that.

Health Workforce Canada is setting an ambitious plan to move us forward over the next three years. The initial priorities will be convening networks, advancing data, modeling and forecasting and sharing what works.

You can read more about our next steps here: https://healthworkforce.ca/about-us/

Deborah Cohen is the Chief Operating Officer at Health Workforce Canada.