REGINA — Saskatchewan is expanding its range of communities involved in its Rural and Remote Recruitment Incentive (RRRI).
As part of the province’s 2026-2027 budget, Beauval, Buffalo Narrows, Carlyle, Creighton, Craik, Davidson, Ituna, Montmarte and Macklin are now part of the RRRI.
“This is all about ensuring that patients can access the right care at the right time, but the most important piece is as close to home as possible. And as we're able to fill full-time positions and staff up in rural and northern facilities, that means people can stay as close to home as possible to receive the health care that they need,” said Saskatchewan Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill at an announcement on Monday.
The RRRI started nearly three years ago, offering incentive packages of up to $50,000 for a three-year return-to-service in health occupations needed in communities.
“[This targets] registered nurses, registered psychiatric nurses, LPNs, continuing care assistants, medical lab assistants and technologists, medical radiation technologists, CLXTs, the folks that do lab and x-ray services,” explained Cockrill.
Several representatives of the newly added communities spoke on the staffing challenges they faced.
"We've had a shortage of nurses for a long time, but not only in our area, but all of northern Saskatchewan,” said Bruce Fidler, Mayor of Creighton.
For Creighton, their primary medical services come from Flin Flon, which sits east of the town.
Kevin Krett, councillor of Ituna, said their long-term care facility has dealt with staffing shortages for years.
Currently, the facility staffs a nurse practitioner and a doctor who drops in several days a week.
The lack of staff on hand is causing residents to travel far for medical needs, noted Krett.
“Everybody's travelling for medical services anywhere between 50 and 70 kilometres.”
Mayor of Davidson, Keith LePoudre, said the community hasn’t had enough doctors or nurses to meet its needs.
“Our population is growing a little bit, but we also have needs because we have an aging population, and so we need health-care workers in the hospital to help look after all of our needs in our community.”
LePoudre noted the struggles of attracting health-care workers who often opt to work in larger urban areas.
"They get attracted to cities or whatever. It's hard to bring them out to a smaller community.”
Since its inception, the RRRI has filled over 530 positions, said Cockrill.
Since the program hasn’t reached three years, Cockrill had no information on retention numbers.
For this year, the government is investing $8.7 million to maintain and expand the program to support new participants.
With the new nine communities added, the RRRI now supports 82 areas across the province.
