Manor CEO quashes claims of unfair hiring practices
by Brandon Mayer
On July 6, a social media user made an emotional post regarding what she claimed were unfair hiring practices at Dundas Manor. “Local people in Dundas Manor are losing their jobs to foreign workers, and it’s becoming a real problem,” wrote Olivia Yasmion.
The post claims to support fair immigration and hiring practices, but questions why “our own community members” are being disadvantaged. “We need more transparency and fairness in the hiring process!” the post continues. “Local talent should be prioritized when it comes to job opportunities. It’s not about being against anyone – it’s about making sure our community has a chance to thrive first. It’s time to stand up for local workers. Let’s make sure Dundas Manor doesn’t forget where it all started!”
It is unknown whether Olivia Yasmion was a former employee of Dundas Manor, or whether she is even a real person or an alias. Her Facebook profile has no photo, and no public activity. The post undoubtedly took many social media users by surprise.
The Times reached out to Cholly Boland, CEO of Winchester District Memorial Hospital and Dundas Manor. Boland was thankful for the opportunity to provide clarifying remarks regarding the social media post. He provided the following statement to the Times, which was also posted on local social media a few days later:
“As the Chief Executive Officer of Dundas Manor, I would like to share some information about the issue of hiring skilled health care professionals from other countries.
“The number one priority at Dundas Manor is the care of our residents who call the Manor home. To do that effectively, we need trained, highly-skilled staff.
“We would always want to recruit locally because this is the community we serve and it is much, much easier and less expensive to recruit people who live nearby. Just a week ago, we celebrated many of our staff who live locally and have worked at Dundas Manor for 5, 10, 20 and even 40 years.
“For more than a year, we tried to recruit locally, and in Ontario, and in Canada. We had numerous job ads for full-time positions in newspapers, job websites, and on Facebook, Twitter/X, and Instagram. Through government programs, we were able to offer hiring bonuses of up to $25,000. In spite of all that, we often had no applicants respond to our postings for full-time nursing positions. As challenging as this is, many of the 600+ other long-term care homes in Ontario are experiencing worse staffing shortages and have for-profit staffing agencies providing them with personnel on a permanent basis. That is not the case at our long-term care home, and we are grateful for the staff who have chosen to work and make a career at Dundas Manor.
“In the new Dundas Manor, we will be caring for 56 more residents than we have now. The government will not allow us to open the new building unless we have a full complement of care staff that include PSWs, registered nurses, and registered practical nurses. So after trying to recruit locally for an extended period of time, we decided to hire trained, highly-skilled nurses from other countries. We do not get any government funding or subsidies for this. In fact, these recruitment costs are higher, but we need skilled staff for the new Manor. These nurses from other countries are regular employees, work in the same unionized environment, and are paid the same as any other similar worker at Dundas Manor. There are no minority hiring quotas (or anything related to that) at Dundas Manor. All staff working at any Ontario long-term care facility have to have the qualifications specified in provincial government legislation.
“Now that we have more full-time staff, some non-nursing staff will be working on a part-time or casual basis, as directed by the union agreement, which are the positions they were hired to fill.
“The trained professionals from other countries are making considerable sacrifices to come to Winchester. They are leaving their spouses and children to come to a very different climate and environment.
“I would like to ask everyone to support these health care professionals so they will stay and support the care of all of our Dundas Manor residents.”
The CEO’s statement reflects a common problem across many industries: not enough qualified people seeking employment. It is no secret that there is currently a shortage of workers across many professions, including nurses, doctors, pharmacists and PSWs in the healthcare sector, ECEs in the education sector, and welders, truck drivers and other skilled labourers in the manufacturing sector. A common rhetoric is that foreign workers are “stealing” jobs from Canadians. However, these are critical jobs that need filling, and when there aren’t enough Canadians trained and willing to fill them, foreign labour must be sought. To have more local workers filling these jobs, there will need to be a greater push in the years ahead for locals to train and become certified in these high demand professions.