Canadian ERs closed for over 1.14 million hours since 2019, reveals report

July 4, 2025

RED FM News Desk

SURREY, BC – A Globe and Mail investigation has uncovered that Canadian emergency rooms (ERs) have collectively shut their doors for at least 1.14 million hours since 2019, equivalent to 47,500 days. This alarming figure highlights a severe staffing shortage across hospitals nationwide since the onset of the pandemic, with rural communities bearing the brunt of the impact.

Since 2019, at least 34 percent of Canadian ERs have experienced either unplanned short-term closures or planned long-lasting reductions in hours, typically shutting down during nights, weekends, or both.

“The ultimate effect of all that is the patient suffers,” stated Aimee Kernick, president of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, underscoring the critical impact on patient care.

The Globe attempted to compile six years’ worth of ER closure statistics as part of its “Secret Canada: Your Health” project, which aims to shed light on crucial healthcare data not systematically tracked or made public.

Only officials in New Brunswick and Manitoba were able to provide a detailed set of closure statistics covering nearly the entire requested timeframe, dating back to 2019 – the year before the pandemic-induced upheavals. Other provinces either lacked data for the full period or directed The Globe to outdated news releases or local health authorities. Notably, British Columbia’s data, covering only the period starting in 2023, arrived too late to be included in The Globe’s comprehensive analysis.

The data collected by The Globe overwhelmingly indicates that this is almost exclusively a rural problem affecting all provinces. Manitoba was particularly hard hit, with 70 percent of its ERs experiencing closures, followed by Nova Scotia (66 percent) and Saskatchewan (57 percent).

While temporary closures largely peaked around 2022 and 2023 and have gradually decreased since, this improvement is attributed to provinces’ efforts to recruit healthcare professionals to outlying regions. However, the decline in temporary closures is also partly due to the permanent shuttering of some ERs, their conversion to different service types, and permanent reductions in operating hours at others, which excludes them from these tallies.