Vancouver Island resident Tod Maffin couldn’t have known that what was originally meant as a plug for local tourism would ultimately result in a national movement to recruit health-care workers.
It was early 2025, and everyone was talking tariffs. Canadians were feeling patriotic, looking to divert their dollars away from the United States, but many weren’t sure exactly how to do that.
Maffin, president of engageQ Digital and a former CBC Radio host, started posting videos to social media to answer people’s questions, which included things like, “What is the difference between ‘Made in Canada’ and ‘Product of Canada?’”
In the middle of this, he started to notice that many of those interested in supporting the country were actually Americans — who had even more questions.
So Maffin and his wife, Jocelyn, issued an open invitation to anyone interested in Canada to visit and learn more.
Thus was born the Nanaimo Infusion.
“It started last year as kind of an impromptu tourism event where we invited folks to come over to Vancouver Island to eat in our restaurants, shop in our stores, stay in our campgrounds, kind of thing,” Maffin said.
Thousands responded, and hundreds ended up showing up to the event, which took place at a local park.
As they chatted with the attendees, they became aware of something interesting.
“My wife and I, when we were talking to people there, noticed that a lot of them were American health-care workers who used that event as an opportunity to check B.C. out, and Vancouver Island in particular, as maybe an escape route for them,” he said.
“We talked to way more health-care workers than I think we realized were coming.”
So that became the new focus.
“When we noticed that there were a lot of health-care workers, we sort of retooled the website to be an additional resource in helping recruit people to B.C.,” he said.
The event’s website now contains an entire section that helps break down all the steps necessary for doctors, nurses, nurse-practitioners, and other health-care workers to move to Canada and work in their fields.
“Last year after the event, we sort of turned it into a health-care recruitment project, and that has now become a national movement,” Maffin said.
“There are more than 35 communities across this country that have templated what we’ve done on Vancouver Island and are using it to recruit health-care workers into their own communities. And so we’re especially proud of that work.”
He says they aren’t sure how many will attend this year’s event, but he feels like it will be even bigger than in 2025 — for a couple of reasons.
“One is that certainly last year’s Nanaimo Infusion event got some attention, and a lot of people had wanted to come but couldn’t make that time work for them, so now it works better with a bit more notice,” he said.
“But also, things have not gotten better in the U.S., and a lot of the folks that came last year were health-care workers looking for an escape route. I think that need has become even more so. We have seen the murder of an ICU nurse in the U.S. We’ve seen ICE agents now in airports. I think the need is more desperate.”
This year’s Nanaimo Infusion event will take place April 24-26. A “family photo” will take place on April 25 at 12 p.m. in Maffeo Sutton Park. Anyone looking for more information can check out the event’s website here.
Organizers say you don’t need to work in healthcare or live in the U.S. to participate.
