Nunavut nursing pay rates
NEU/PSAC – GN (Group 5, Health Care Workers) · Oct 1 2024 – Sep 30 2028
Current
Nunavut has the LOWEST posted differentials in Canada — $1.50/h evenings (16:00–24:00), $1.75/h nights (00:00–08:00) and just $0.80/h weekends — but that is deeply misleading, because almost all of a Nunavut nurse’s premium pay sits in allowances onWard cannot model. The Nunavut Northern Allowance alone runs from $16,008 a year in Iqaluit to $43,588 in Grise Fiord, and health-centre nurses draw an annual special allowance of $11,625 to $19,500 depending on how many nurses staff the centre, plus a monthly service allowance of $375–$550, recruitment bonuses up to $20,000, and $10/h or $15/h premiums in some communities and positions. Treat the comparison below as premiums only, not total pay. Overtime is 1.5×, stepping to 2× after the first four consecutive overtime hours and on a second or subsequent consecutive day of rest. On 12-hour rotations, overtime worked immediately before or after a scheduled shift is 2× outright. In charge of a ward, unit or health centre pays $2.00/h. A worked designated paid holiday pays 1.5× for the first four hours and 2× beyond that, on top of the holiday pay you would have received (on 12-hour schedules, 2× for all hours worked on the holiday). Nurse mentors are paid $500 a month rather than hourly, so the preceptor field is left at zero. The 2024–2028 agreement (signed March 2026) kept these premium and overtime rules unchanged; wages rose 9 % in Oct 2024, 3 % in Oct 2025, 3 % in Oct 2026 and 2.5 % in Oct 2027.
Shift premiums and multipliers
| Item | Rate |
|---|---|
| Evening differentialPer hour, on qualifying evening shifts. | $1.50 |
| Night differentialPer hour, on qualifying night shifts. | $1.75 |
| Weekend premiumPer hour, on qualifying weekend hours. | $0.80 |
| In-charge / responsibility payPer hour while carrying the charge role. | $2.00 |
| Preceptor premiumPer hour while precepting. | $0.00 |
| Overtime — standard tourMultiplier on your base rate. | 1.5× |
| Overtime — extended tour, first hoursApplies to the first overtime hours on an extended tour. | 1.5× |
| Overtime — extended tour, remaining hoursApplies once the first overtime hours are used up. | 2× |
| Statutory holiday workedMultiplier for hours worked on a named holiday. | 1.5× |
| Super statutory holiday workedHigher rate on the agreement’s premium holidays. | 2× |
Tour lengths: 7.5 h and 8 h shifts; 12 h rotations at 42 h/week, four on four off
Check this against your own cheque
onWard holds these Nunavut rates and applies them to the shifts you actually worked — evenings, nights, weekends, overtime at its own multiplier, statutory and super-stat pay, in-charge and preceptor hours, then deductions and net pay. Enter your own base rate and it works for RNs, RPNs and LPNs alike. Every figure is cited to the clause it comes from, so you can check the app’s work against your contract.
Sources
- National comparison of premiums, overtime, holidays and salary across all ten provincial agreements. Used to cross-check every province below.
- Art. 27 shift premiums, Art. 23.04 overtime, Art. 15.05 designated paid holidays, Art. 39 Nunavut Northern Allowance, Group 5 (Health Care Workers) and MOU 8 (Nurses). Oct 1 2024 – Sep 30 2028, signed March 2026.
- Official summary of the allowances and recruitment bonuses that sit outside the hourly premiums onWard models.