Talks between B.C. nurses and employer at impasse, union wants the province to help

Members of the B.C. Nurses' Union participate in job action outside of Vancouver General Hospital in Vancouver, on Tuesday, July 7, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

The BC Nurses’ Union says negotiations with the employer have broken down and is calling on the provincial government to step in to help end their dispute that triggered job action last week. 

The union says in a statement that the nurses’ strike is entering a “significantly new phase,” with job action expanding to additional hospitals and care centres across the province. 

Starting on the weekend, picket lines will extend to major health facilities across the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island in what the union says is a bid to increase pressure on the government to intervene. 

BCNU president Adriane Gear says the government can provide the Health Employers Association of B.C. with a mandate that helps retain nurses, strengthen public health care and prevent further disruption. 

The union statement says its decision to expand job action is also driven by the treatment of nurses who are taking strike action, and since July 2, BCNU has received more than 2,300 reports from members alleging intimidation, coercion and threats for refusing non-nursing duties. 

Union pickets were set up outside Surrey Memorial Hospital and just blocks away at the Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre on Thursday. 

The union has also filed an unfair labour practice application with the provincial labour board over what it says is the employers attempt to interfere with the members’ lawful job action. 

“Nurses should never be threatened or intimidated for exercising their legal rights,” Gear says in the statement. 

“What we are hearing from our members is deeply concerning. Instead of listening to nurses and working with us to resolve this dispute, health employers have chosen to challenge the very people who keep our hospitals running. That is not acceptable.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 9, 2026.