CARE Centre receives ‘Employer of the Year’ Award

CARE Centre was honoured to 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. 

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.”

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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To arrange an interview, please contact:

Mark Piercey, Marketing Officer
CARE Centre for Internationally Educated Nurses
mpiercey@care4nurses.org
416-226-2800 ext. 404