Using these values as a framework we are committed to providing exemplary service in all program areas to assist internationally educated nurses to enter the nursing profession in Ontario.  We value each of our members and will strive to consistently maintain high standards of support services. CARE Centre for Internationally Educated Nurses (IENs) was created in 2001 to address a major gap in Ontario’s healthcare human resources strategy. Nurses comprise the largest employee group in the sector and there are frequent, cyclical staffing shortages.

The founding committee included representatives from WoodGreen Community Services, Kababayan Community Services, St. Michael’s Hospital and the Yee Hong Centre for Geriatric Care. The group’s early feasibility work was supported with a grant from the Maytree Foundation and had the backing of the nursing regulatory body – the College of Nurses of Ontario, professional associations, the provincial nursing union and the Ontario Nursing Secretariat. CARE Centre engaged the first of multiple educational partners in George Brown College, with whom the Nursing in Ontario curriculum developed and is now delivered in nursing programs across the province.

Since that time, many similar programs have been developed based on the CARE Centre model for other regulated professions. Prior to the creation of CARE Centre, IENs faced many challenges in returning to their profession, gaining employment, successfully integrating into the Ontario healthcare workplace and excelling in their careers. CARE Centre has both assisted individual IENs in achieving registration and returning to active practice, and effected systemic change. With growing demand for long-term and community care for an increasingly diverse and aging Ontario population, the organization’s member IENs have a distinct and important role to play in the province’s immigration and healthcare human resource strategies.