Nurses in First Nations communities overlooked in N.B. nursing retention bonus

A retention bonus given to New Brunswick nurses falls short on recognizing nurses working in First Nations communities, says an Indigenous Patient Advocate in the province. 

In December, New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt followed through on a campaign promise to deliver $10,000 payments to permanent part-time and full-time nurses in New Brunswick as an incentive to retain nurses and address staffing shortages. 

According to a news release from May, nearly 11,000 nurses received the first bonus and are set to receive an additional $5,000 if they commit to another year of service. 

"The same people that I walked across the stage with at graduation are getting bonuses that I won't ever see," said Jasmine Murchison-Perley from Tobique First Nation.

Murchison-Perley is a Wolastoqey nurse working as a Indigenous patient advocate at the Wolastoqey Tribal Council.

She made a post on Facebook calling attention to the lack of retention bonuses for those nurses working in First Nations communities in New Brunswick. 

"This decision reinforces the long-standing systemic inequities Indigenous health-care professionals face, despite their critical contributions to frontline care and community wellness," reads the post.

"What's equally troubling is the silence from Susan Holt and the Liberal Party ..., who have publicly committed to building stronger relationships with First Nations in this province." 

In a news release from December, Holt said "nurses play a critical role across our health-care and long-term care systems here in New Brunswick."

"These retention payments are meant to show our respect to the hard-working nurses in our regional health authorities and nursing homes around the province and will help to ensure that we can retain their valuable knowledge."

A spokesperson for the department of Health said in an email that the retention bonus was offered only to nurses in the regional health authorities, Extra-Mural/ANB, and nursing home settings as a first step toward improving health care in the province.

"Any additional retention measures would require new discussions and consideration," the email said. 

In a December question period in the legislature, it was pointed out that casual nurses and some licensed practical nurses were also left out from the bonuses.

System strained

Murchison-Perley's job as an Indigenous patient advocate involves addressing anti-Indigenous racism in health systems, and she is also a grad student focusing her research on Indigenous registered nurses' experiences in recruitment and retention.

She has worked both with Horizon Health and in First Nations communities in New Brunswick, and said nurses in both sectors are feeling the brunt of the strain on the health-care system. 

She said she was hopeful when she saw Holt's campaign promise for retention bonuses for nurses but was let down when she saw that First Nations community health nurses were overlooked. 

"I've poured my heart and soul into this profession, just to be forgotten," she said.

Murchison-Perley said a lot of times community health resources are community members' first point of contact, and they alleviate stress on the province's health-care system. 

"Nurses working in communities are dealing with complex cases, as a result of filling the gaps that the public health service misses for First Nations people," she said.