B.C. nurses expand picket lines to Vancouver Island at Nanaimo hospital

Members of the BC Nurses' Union picket outside Surrey Memorial Hospital, in Surrey, B.C., on Thursday, July 9, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

NANAIMO — British Columbia nurses have expanded picket lines to Vancouver Island with the escalated job action now reaching Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.

The BC Nurses’ Union says in an email that the picket line at the hospital was put in place earlier today and president Adriane Gear is scheduled to attend.

The union representing 60,000 nurses across B.C. set up pickets in Vancouver and Surrey last week, citing what it said were thousands of cases of manager intimidation when nurses refused non-nursing duties.

Health employers have said nurses are not being pushed to fulfil non-nursing duties and have vowed to look into the cases.

Veteran mediators Vince Ready and Amanda Rogers were appointed to help settle the disagreement between the nurses and the employers last week, but the union says that won’t stop job action at the moment.

The union is scheduled to picket Royal Jubilee Hospital and South Island Surgical Centre, both in Greater Victoria, on Tuesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 13, 2026.