The pandemic raised a multitude of equity issues within healthcare, with effects that still cause ripples today, says Dr. Valerie Damasco Trent University Durham GTA Sociology professor.  

Professor Damasco says a number of nurses have left the profession over the last few years due to burnout, although some nurses within the province, including Filipino women, don’t have the ability to leave the profession altogether. For many, their only option to continue to support themselves and their families while managing stress is to move into nursing roles in rural and remote settings in Ontario, which presents its own unique challenges and opportunities.  

Prof. Damasco’s research shows these nurses are leaving large metropolitan hospitals to work in tertiary settings in northern Ontario, such as Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins, and Sudbury as they try and manage extreme stress and burnout.  

The history behind the research

Together with a colleague at Algoma University, Prof. Damasco is looking into why these nurses are not provided pathways to transition into other positions within the profession, such as nurse practitioner, nurse coordinator or supervisor, or director of care, for instance. 

According to Prof. Damasco, during the 1960s, these were some of the roles that Philippine-trained nurses took on in Canadian healthcare institutions. In contrast to this, her current research shows that nurses are underemployed and often not promoted despite holding extensive experience, training, and qualifications. 

This research is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Trent students are also contributing to the project, as Trent Master’s student Alana Hart joins Prof. Damasco’s team. 

Prof. Damasco’s interest in this topic started with her wanting to learn more about her family’s migration history. During the mid-1960s, her aunt was recruited to Canada from the Philippines as a trained nurse. Her past research reveals that during the 1950s and 1960s, Philippine-trained nurses were being recruited to Canada because of shortages in the workforce. During this period, they experienced stable employment and career growth, advancing to supervisory, management, and leadership positions in the nursing profession. 

Comparing the past to the present

Comparing her past research and looking at the experiences of Philippine-trained nurses today, she says, “We’re sliding back into the same kind of issues as in the recent decades. We’re still at this point where we need to be advocating and lobbying for better labour protections and more stability for those with precarious and challenging positions within the profession.” 

She says, “It’s important to understand how we go from recruiting nurses into this country in the 1960s, to what’s happening today. Certainly, we are seeing a large influx of Filipino women immigrating to the country with nursing training, but they are continuously channeled into lower-tiered roles.” 

Prof. Damasco hopes her research at Trent Durham will help bring to light how inequality and inequity surfaces in the workplace and how they are reproduced by way of policies, practices, and legislation. 

She was featured on the Canadian Race Relations Foundation’s podcast, The Health Care Divide. Learn more about Prof. Damasco's research by listening to the episode.