‘A no-brainer’: Why some U.S. health-care workers are moving to Nova Scotia

When Donald Trump started talking about running for re-election, Heather O’Dell began looking for an exit.

“I had this feeling that he would win,” she said. “I really couldn't understand how that was going to happen, but it really seemed like it was.”

As an American citizen, O’Dell didn’t like where the country was headed.

She also feared for her safety.

“I knew … the federal government could step in and start doing things like changing my passport gender and changing my driver's licence gender, all the things that led me to feel safer as a trans-identifying person, they could take those things away very quickly.”

As the 2024 U.S. presidential election approached, O’Dell, who was a newly qualified registered nurse in Vermont, applied for a nursing licence in Nova Scotia.

A few days after Trump's election victory, she told her colleagues she was leaving.

In late December, she moved to Halifax. She began work as a cardiovascular intensive care nurse on Jan. 1, 2025.

“It was just a no-brainer. I didn't even come up to visit. I was like, ‘That's where I'm going to be,’” she said.

O’Dell is just one of dozens of health-care workers from the United States who’ve moved to Nova Scotia in the last year as more people move across the border, in some cases seeking a more welcoming environment.

Nova Scotia Health says 50 American health-care workers have taken positions in Nova Scotia in the past fiscal year, up from 31 in 2024.

‘We just want to live our life and not be harassed’

Two of those people are Steve and Matt Ortiz, who have decades of nursing experience between them.

The couple is originally from Orlando, Fla. But when Trump was elected — after years of increasingly anti-2SLGBTQ+ rhetoric and policies in Florida — they started looking to Canada.

“We just want to live our life and not be harassed,” said Matt, who notes that some people questioned their decision, saying the situation wasn’t that bad or that they’d soon be moving back.

“That's their opinion. This is our lives. I am 55 — I want to spend the rest of my existence someplace where I don't feel like I should have to look behind my shoulder every time.”

After trying unsuccessfully to get nursing jobs in Alberta, they looked to Nova Scotia. With the help of a recruiter from the provincial health authority, the Ortizes found positions at Aberdeen Hospital in New Glasgow.

They arrived in Nova Scotia — along with their 45-kilogram bulldog — at the end of the summer. Since arriving, the couple said, their stress levels have dropped “by 80 per cent.” They purchased an old Victorian house in Pictou County they're fixing up, and are looking at Nova Scotia as their long-term home.

“We don't plan on going anywhere,” said Matt.

But it’s the people of Nova Scotia — many who went out of their way to welcome the couple to the community, they say — that have cemented their confidence in their decision.

“It seems like most of the general consensus in the entire province is, you know what? Be a good person, do a good job, treat people nicely. That's all we really ask,” said Matt. “And that's all we want. We just want to be treated fairly, treated politely, like we would treat you.”

Volunteer-led initiative offers information, advice

A volunteer-led initiative is trying to support even more American health-care workers to make the move to Canada.

The initiative was started by Tod Maffin, a digital marketer, business journalist and former CBC radio host in Nanaimo, B.C. Last year, as tariffs and political tensions between Canada and the U.S. increased, Maffin posted a TikTok video encouraging Americans who wanted to support the Canadian economy to come spend money in Canada.

“And hundreds of them showed up on the weekend that we picked.”

Then something unexpected happened, Maffin said. The group of Americans who showed up included dozens of health-care workers who were using the weekend as an opportunity to scope out Canada as a place to escape to, if need be.

Maffin and his wife helped connect those people to the hospital in Nanaimo, and decided to continue those efforts by creating a website called Canada’s Healthcare Infusions.

Initially, the website was directed to Vancouver Island, and contained resources about the immigration process, as well as information about things like the state of local schools. The website also had a chatroom through the Discord platform, where people looking to move could ask questions that only locals would answer.

Maffin realized the infrastructure could easily be duplicated anywhere, so he put out a call for people to start their own.

“There's not a charity behind this or a company or anything like that. It's just people off the side of their desks, evenings and weekends, trying to try to make a difference.”

There are now 14 Infusion chapters, including one in Nova Scotia started by retired health administrator Carolyn Fallis.

When she saw Maffin’s call-out, Fallis seized the opportunity to be involved. She said she didn’t know much about computers, and had never used a Discord server, but as a cancer survivor with a diabetic brother — and no family doctor — she had motivation.

"It became personal, right? … And because I'm retired, I thought I'd go for it.”

The Nova Scotia chapter has been running since September. Fallis said she’s been struck by how supportive Nova Scotians — including some Americans who recently moved — have been.

“People would just jump right on [Discord] and start answering questions. I am just so overwhelmed by the generosity of people who have been helping.”

‘If you can get here … come’

As for Heather O’Dell, she said in the last year she’s felt justified in her decision to move, and is in the process of applying for permanent residency and renouncing her U.S. citizenship.

She’s also spending her free time talking to people online and offering her own support to others looking to make the move.

“I tell people to come, gender-diverse people especially. If you can get here, if you have a path, come.”

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