Chilliwack nurses, family members and supporters planned to rally in front of the office of Chilliwack MLA Dan Coulter at 3 p.m. on Friday.
People were invited to the rally at least in part via a Facebook page entitled “Done Asking! National Nurses Day of Action.”
By 2:45 p.m. on Friday, two dozen people had confirmed their attendance at Coulter’s office on Airport Road.
Rally organizers say Canada is facing a nursing crisis, and without urgent action by provincial and federal governments, things will get worse with nurses considering leaving the profession.
The rally does have the support of the unions representing nurses both provincially and federally.
“The BC Nurses’ Union (BCNU) has joined the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions and other provincial nurses’ unions across the country for a National Day of Action to demand the provincial and federal governments take action on the national nursing shortage, among other asks,” BCNU spokesperson Shawn Leclair told The Progress Friday.
The Facebook group where organizers planned the rally said that nurses are done asking for basic respect, safety and fairness.
“Nurses are done asking for safe work, fair contracts and enough staff to give our patients the care they deserve.”
It should be noted that the rally planned for Friday has nothing to do with the recent anti-vaccination and anti-vaccination passport rallies that targeted and harassed health-care workers in Vancouver, Abbotsford, Chilliwack and other cities across Canada recently.
Many mistakenly said those rallies were organized by health-care workers because a group “Canadian Frontline Nurses” were involved. But that group, which includes some fired nurses and a small number of actual health-care workers, has been criticized by the Canadian Nurses Association.
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