Sept. 17, 2026
Read article originally published in The Hill Times
By: Michelle McLean
More than six years ago, people across Canada and in many countries around the world stepped outside onto their front steps, porches, and balconies to cheer and bang pots and pans for the healthcare workers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, many of those workers face anger, hostility, threats, and in some cases, attacks.
Hospitals and health authorities across the country report troubling increases in violence against their staff. What may have been seen as isolated incidents in the past have become all too common, and the escalation in frequency and severity cannot be characterized as anything less than a crisis. As the House returns this fall, Members of Parliament can help address this growing threat to our healthcare workforce by passing Bill S-233 before the end of this year. And if our legislators truly understood the scale and impact of violence against healthcare workers, they would not just pass the bill, but expedite its passage through unanimous consent.
Workplace violence can include physical assault and abuse, threats, sexual harassment, derogatory and racial slurs, and sexual assault. It can be perpetrated by patients, family members, co-workers or superiors. It is more prevalent in emergency departments, psychiatry, and community care, but incidents have been reported across all hospital departments, entrances, parkades and parking lots. It is neither normal in a health care setting nor “part of the job.”
Concerns about the rise of a serious health and safety issue had been growing prior to the pandemic. In 2019, healthcare workers were estimated to experience violence on the job at four times the rate of any other profession. But a shift in vitriol toward healthcare workers in the last few years is leading to worrying consequences for the healthcare system. At a time when Canada is already short thousands of nurses, physicians and other health workers, violence pushes people out of the very professions we cannot afford to lose. Violence can worsen staffing shortages and create challenges for recruitment and retention. The emotional toll violence takes on direct-care providers erodes staff morale and mental health, increases risk to safety, undermines patient care and raises healthcare costs.
Hospitals and health authorities are already investing significant resources to prevent violence and protect their people. St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton reported a 30 percent rise in violence in the last year, and launched a campaign featuring its own staff sharing real-life stories of the violence they have experienced on the job.
After the Manitoba Nurses Union flagged safety concerns in Winnipeg, Shared Health Manitoba installed AI-powered weapons scanners at the health centre. According to Shared Health Manitoba, between March and August 2026, almost 2,000 items were detected, including knives, tools, box cutters, drugs and alcohol. This new technology is being deployed in emergency departments across the country, including by Saskatchewan Health Authority, Nova Scotia Health Authority, Health PEI, and London Health Sciences Centre.
These measures, and other similar efforts across the country, are needed to address the situation healthcare workers are experiencing daily. But hospitals and healthcare organizations cannot solve this problem alone. The federal government also has a clear responsibility under the Criminal Code to protect healthcare workers.
Bill S-233 offers one practical step forward. It amends the Criminal Code so that courts must treat an assault against a healthcare worker or first responder as an aggravating factor at sentencing. This is not a new idea. An identical bill, C-321, passed the House of Commons unanimously in the last Parliament and was studied at length in both chambers. It did not become law only because Parliament was prorogued and an election was called. Consensus already exists. Parliament simply needs to finish the job.
In early 2022, new Criminal Code protections for healthcare workers came into force, giving courts tools to address intimidation and obstruction, but enforcement has been inconsistent. Passing S-233 and enforcing the protections already available must go hand in hand.
Healthcare workers have the same right to a safe workplace as anyone else. Parliament can support them by passing Bill S-233 and by making sure the protections already in effect are consistently enforced. This fall, Members of Parliament can do something better than bang pots and pans. They can stand together, and with our healthcare workers, and pass Bill S-233.
Michelle McLean
President and CEO, HealthCareCAN
HealthCareCAN is the national voice of hospitals, health authorities, health research institutes, and healthcare organizations across Canada.
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