SAC-Saskatchewan advocates for the recruitment and retention of speech-language pathologists (S-LPs) and audiologists in the province. Saskatchewan faces unique workforce challenges, including limited training programs, vacant public positions, and an aging workforce. SAC’s advocacy ensures that provincial recruitment and retention strategies include S-LPs and audiologists and supports clinicians who supervise students on clinical placements.
On January 26, 2026, Jennifer Cameron-Turley, Saskatchewan Advocacy Manager, and Bonnie Cooke, SAC Director of Audiology and Interim Lead of Advocacy, met with representatives from the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), Saskatchewan Health Recruitment (SHR), the Ministry of Health (MOH), and the Ministry of Advanced Education to address the growing shortage of public health audiologists in Saskatchewan. which is acting as a bottleneck to service provision and to the much-needed expansion of public health programs.
SHA shared several updates that align with SAC’s recommendations from our previous meeting in July 2025:
Action items:
SAC will continue to advocate for sustainable workforce solutions and keep members informed of progress.
On August 12, 2025, SAC-Saskatchewan clarified with UBC that the WCB issue preventing students from taking placements in Saskatchewan has been resolved. To address the insurance requirement, UBC partnered with Saskatchewan Polytechnic, allowing students to enroll in a micro-credential course aligned with their clinical externship.
If you are interested in hosting a student:
Recent data highlights the urgency of this work:
Saskatchewan has the lowest number of audiologists per capita in Canada (3.7 per 100,000). Many public health positions remain vacant, and a significant portion of the workforce is near retirement, creating bottlenecks in patient care and public programs such as Early Hearing Detection and Intervention.
On November 28, 2025, SAC-Saskatchewan reached out via email to Halen Panchyk, audiologist at the Wascana Rehabilitation Centre in Regina, Deborah Moynes-Keshen, Executive Director of the Healthcare Human Resources Branch at the Ministry of Health and Shelle Lofstrom, Executive Director, Workforce Planning and Employment Strategies at the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), to inquire if there has been any progress with recruitment and retention challenges with public sector audiologists since our last virtual meeting, and have not yet received a response
Colleagues at the SHA report that recruitment and retention challenges have grown since the summer, with two more audiologists recently vacating their positions to practice outside the province. There are currently 12 audiology positions in the SHA across all public sector services, both pediatric and adult. Six are currently vacant, with the oldest vacancy dating back to 2020.
SHA colleagues informed us that there is insufficient capacity to cover infants referred from the Newborn Hearing Screening Program, with only 60% of infants referred from the Regina/South area being seen, and approximately 25% in Saskatoon/North. SAC-Saskatchewan has requested a meeting with representatives from the SHA and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health and is awaiting a response.
In July 2025, SAC-Saskatchewan met with Mark Wyatt, Assistant Deputy Minister of Advanced Education, representatives from the University of Saskatchewan (U of S), Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Advanced Education to discuss supporting clinicians supervising students in advance of the new S-LP program at U of S (opening September 2026).
Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI) – Health Workforce Data
