Becoming a paramedic in New Brunswick means a PANB-approved paramedic program and registration with the Paramedics Association of New Brunswick, the province's regulatory authority, before Ambulance New Brunswick can hire you.
Applies in: New Brunswick
New Brunswick paramedics register with the Paramedics Association of New Brunswick (PANB), and registration comes before employment. The province's own pathway document states that paramedics are regulated health professionals in New Brunswick and that you must be registered with PANB — the regulatory authority — to practise. Complete a PANB-approved paramedic program, register with PANB in the right class, and only then does Ambulance New Brunswick's hiring process open to you.
New Brunswick runs one provincial ambulance service, so the split is clean: PANB decides who is a paramedic, and Ambulance New Brunswick (ANB) decides who gets a job.
The minimum educational requirement to practise in New Brunswick is a PANB-approved paramedic educational program that meets the National Occupational Competency Profile of the Paramedic Association of Canada, or an equivalent. ANB's postings describe the primary care paramedic program as a program or course of over six months and refer applicants to the list of paramedic programs in Atlantic Canada.
Pick the program with PANB's approval list in hand. A program that another province accepts is not automatically a program PANB has approved, and the approval question is cheapest to settle before tuition, not after graduation.
PANB keeps the register under the Paramedic Act. Its by-laws describe who a paramedic is in law: a person whose name is entered in the register. The registrar issues a certificate of registration to members who have met the requirements of the Act, by-laws, and rules and paid the required fees.
The classes that matter for a new applicant:
Registration is not permanent. Registered membership is renewed annually, and the renewal application goes to the registrar in the form the PANB board approves.
ANB runs a standardized selection process for new graduates and for paramedics arriving from outside the province, held several times a year. Its published requirements for paramedic postings show what to have ready:
The bilingual assessment is a New Brunswick feature worth planning around: New Brunswick is Canada's only officially bilingual province, and ANB assesses oral competency in both languages as part of hiring. Book the assessment early, because ANB itself warns applicants to allow extra time to receive it.
If you are registered in another province, ANB's direction is still to sort out PANB registration first; registration in New Brunswick is PANB's decision, not the employer's.
If you were educated outside Canada, the province's pathway document sets out PANB's Substantial Equivalency Application: an assessment of your academic credentials with a self-evaluation across education, EMS-related training certificates (CPR and advanced cardiac life support or paediatric advanced life support are the minimum), and current paramedicine practice guidelines, plus three independent verifications — from current and past paramedic regulators, from an academic credential assessment organization, and a criminal record verification. While you work through conditions in PANB's decision letter, you may practise on a provisional licence under the supervision of a registered PANB member licensed for full practice, and once the conditions are satisfied you move to a full practice licence with no additional fee.
The PANB by-laws and the provincial pathway document do not publish a single current fee for a first domestic primary care paramedic application on the pages used for this guide — the dollar figures available are the June 2024 estimates for the internationally educated pathway — so this guide quotes no domestic registration fee. The pages used here also do not state a fixed processing time for a new domestic registration, so none is given.
The Paramedics Association of New Brunswick (PANB). New Brunswick's paramedic pathway document states plainly that paramedics are regulated health professionals in the province and that you must be registered with PANB — the regulatory authority — to practise.
The minimum is a PANB-approved paramedic educational program that meets the National Occupational Competency Profile of the Paramedic Association of Canada, or an equivalent accepted by PANB. People educated outside Canada have their credentials assessed by PANB through its Substantial Equivalency Application.
PANB's by-laws describe registered members classified as emergency medical technicians and as primary care paramedics, and a specialists register for advanced care paramedics. There is no extra fee for entry in the specialists register as an advanced care paramedic.
Annually. PANB's by-laws say registered membership is renewed each year, with the registrar issuing an annual renewal of registration and membership once the renewal application and required information are filed.
Its postings ask for completed paramedic programs, registration and active status with PANB, a valid New Brunswick Class 4 driver's licence or equivalent, proof of a paramedic physical abilities test within the last 12 months, CPR level C within the last 12 months, a criminal record and vulnerable sector check issued within the last 30 days, immunization records, and official language assessments in English and French.
New Brunswick's pathway document for internationally educated health professionals estimates the total fees to become fully registered at approximately $1,380, rising to approximately $2,480 if you also have to take both the jurisprudence and entry-to-practice exams, plus any costs of meeting conditions placed on your registration. Those estimates are dated June 2024 in the document, so confirm current fees with PANB.