CARE Centre for Internationally Educated Nurses (IENs) Celebrates 25 Years of Supporting Newcomer Nurses
CARE Centre for Internationally Educated Nurses (CARE Centre), a not-for-profit professional organization, is celebrating 25 years of service in 2026. Funded by the Ontario Government since 2001, CARE Centre was one of the first bridge-training programs to receive full government funding.
Since 2016, CARE Centre has received funding from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). The original IRCC funding was for Pre-Arrival Supports and Services (PASS) for IENs accepted for immigration to Canada. Since 2025, PASS now supports IENs post-arrival in all provinces and territories, celebrating 10 years of service to IENs.
CARE Centre received the Employer of the Year Award at the Partners in the Integration and Education of IENs (PIE-IEN) conference in Halifax in April 2026. Executive Director Dr. Ruth Lee, who has served the organization for over nine years and supported it for many more, retired at the end of March. She received the Kathryn Allen Award at the PIE-IEN conference, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to promote the successful registration and integration of IENs into the Canadian healthcare workforce.
CARE Centre’s new Executive Director is Rola El Moubadder, an internationally educated nurse with more than 27 years of combined healthcare experience in Canada and internationally. She has a long and meaningful history with CARE Centre, beginning in 2010 as a member IEN. Over the years she progressed through several roles, including case manager and most recently as a program manager.
In addition to her leadership within CARE Centre, Rola brings a strong background teaching and publishing in academia and contributes to the broader nursing community. Rola is a board member at the Society of Internationally Educated Nurses and Nursing Allies, a member of the Canadian Nurses Association and co-chair and member Executive Network Officer at the International Nursing Interest Group of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO).
“The prominence of IENs in Ontario has reached a new height, with more IENs having registered with the College of Nurses of Ontario in 2023 than domestically educated nurses,” said El Moubadder. “Under proposed regulations, nurses can hold primary registration in one province, and additional licensing in other jurisdictions. With the on-going nursing shortage predicted to grow even more concerning, this new labour-market mobility for IENs will be a bonus for all Canadians.”
Founded by a roundtable of concerned individuals and organizations, with seed money from the Maytree Foundation, CARE Centre was created by settlement agencies, nurse educators, health care employers, nursing professional associations and others, to offer support and direction for IENs who needed support in re-establishing their careers in Ontario. CARE Centre has assisted more than 7,000 IENs from more than 140 countries over the last 25 years, including members of the Ontario Supports, Training and Access to Regulated-employment Services (STARS) program and members of the IRCC-funded PASS program.
“It’s always been the goal of CARE Centre to provide a national service to IENs, while continuing our record of achievement in Ontario,” said El Moubadder. “We can build on our success in impacting the regulatory and employment landscape for IENs in this province, growing our support for IENs anywhere in Canada.”
Meghan Wankel is the PASS Program Manager, overseeing the program since its launch a decade ago. “We have been able to take our programs and services for IENs in Ontario and customize them for realities on the ground in other regions of the country. There are unique needs in different provinces and territories, as health care delivery is their own mandate, which includes regulating the professions.”
There will be a range of events throughout 2026 to commemorate CARE Centre’s 25th anniversary, as well as the 15th anniversary of CARE Centre’s annual Joan Lesmond IEN of the Year Awards, which recognizes one outstanding IEN Registered Nurse and one Registered Practical Nurse, along with the employer partners who advance member IENs’ careers. A CARE Centre anniversary celebration will take place in Toronto and virtually on October 20th.
CARE Centre provides case management and other services from Ontario offices in Toronto, Windsor, London, Niagara, Hamilton, Peel Region, Kingston, and Ottawa. Nationally, CARE Centre serves IENs through case managers based in Vancouver, Calgary, Regina, and St. John, providing on-line programming in all provinces and territories across Canada. Pre-arrival international supports are offered virtually to eligible IENs prior to their arrival in Canada. CARE Centre is a registered charity accepting tax-deductible donations (Charitable Number 84420 5948 RR0001).
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Mark Piercey, Marketing Officer
CARE Centre for Internationally Educated Nurses