During Paramedic Services Week, May 18-25, Unifor recognizes and pays tribute to the essential role played by paramedics.
This year’s theme, We Care. For Everyone, speaks to the commitment paramedics make every day—to show up, act fast, and provide care without barriers. Their work isn’t confined to the walls of a hospital. They bring care wherever it’s needed—on the roadside, in a home, or at the heart of a public emergency.
Unifor represents paramedics across the country who are there when it matters most. In air ambulances, on the road or in remote and rural areas, paramedics respond with skill, urgency and heart—even in the toughest circumstances.
But paramedics are being pushed to the brink.
Chronic understaffing, long hours, unsafe working conditions and a lack of recognition have made the job harder—and the system more fragile. Public emergency services are being stretched thin, while governments delay the action paramedics have long called for.
In December 2024, Unifor alongside other unions and health care advocates held a media conference at Queen’s Park to demand the creation of an Ontario provincial task force to address the growing crisis in paramedic services.
That call came directly from the front lines—from the workers who know what’s happening on the ground and what needs to change. We called for a task force that includes paramedics, unions, health care experts and government decision-makers, with a clear mandate to deliver real results.
Our demands are urgent and achievable, not just in Ontario but across the country, – hire more EMS workersf, enforce safe response times, ensure full-time stable employment, provide better mental health supports, and recognize the role of paramedics as first responders—not just in name, but in policy and practice.
That news conference sent a message: paramedics won’t stay silent while the system fails around them and Unifor won’t stop fighting for them.
We are calling on all levels of government to act, and to do it now.
This week, we thank all Unifor paramedics for your service and solidarity. Your care makes a difference, every single day.