One of the biggest recipients of nursing contracts from Alberta Health Services (AHS) over the past two years is a British company that has subsidiaries in the U.S., Canada, Australia, China and Japan. Another is a company co-owned by a self-published author and motivational speaker that might not be registered to operate in Alberta. 

Greenstaff Medical, a U.K. company that also operates in Canada, the U.S., Australia, China and Japan, has been one of the top recipients of AHS funding from 2023 to 2025.

The Progress Report obtained these companies’ names through a freedom of information request seeking a list of nursing agencies who have received AHS contracts from late 2023 to early 2025, which also revealed that AHS is spending a bit less than projected on private nursing contracts. 

As previously reported by this outlet, AHS isn’t posting private nursing contracts awarded after the 2022/23 fiscal year on its sole-source contract database. AHS claims that this is justified because the contracts awarded over the past two years are considered competitive. 

AHS spending on nursing agency contracts reached a peak of $154.6 million in the 2023/24 fiscal year before falling to a projected second-highest level of $95 million for 2024/25, according to earlier documents obtained through FOIP. 

The Progress Report filed a FOIP request with AHS for a list of nursing agencies contracted over these two years with dollar amounts for each.

The FOIP came back with numbers for the entire 2023/24 fiscal year and 2024/25 up to Jan. 22, representing more than four-fifths of the most recent fiscal year.

Adding the totals for each agency together per year, it appears AHS has spent slightly less than it acknowledged in response to the Report’s earlier FOIP request. 

The latest documents show that AHS spent $150 million in 2023/24—$4.6 million less than originally reported—and $67 million for the first 10 months of 2024/25. 

At this pace, the total figure for 2024/25 will be $88 million, rather than the $95 million we originally projected based on the first half of the fiscal year. 

Goodwill Staffing was awarded $13.6 million in 2023/24 and $6 million in 2024/25 after receiving $2 million in 2022/23, bringing its total public funding to $21.6 million. 

The Ottawa-based company’s website advertises compensation of $105 to $115 an hour for registered nurses in Alberta and $45 to $50 an hour for licensed practical nurses.

Goodwill’s website also allows people to list a property to rent out to travel nurses coming to their town. 

The only full-time jobs the company advertises are in human resources, accounts receivable and career consulting. 

Our corporate registry search for Goodwill Staffing & Recruitment in Alberta came up empty. An email to the company inquiring whether it is registered to operate in Alberta went unacknowledged by press time. 

Unity Ivongbe is listed as director of operations and a co-founder of Goodwill Staffing & Recruitment on LinkedIn, with the position beginning in January 2020. According to his profile, he’s previously lived in Paris and Abuja, Nigeria. 

A motivational speaker and author, in 2018, Ivongbe self-published two books: 50 Shades of Wisdom: Lessons from my interactions with the wisest man who ever lived and On becoming human: 90 Capsules of Wisdom for a more purposeful and meaningful life. 

Debra Ivongbe, a registered nurse who appears to be Unity Ivongbe’s wife, is listed as a managing partner at the company on LinkedIn.

She’s listed as a speaker for the upcoming Canadian Staffing Summit in Toronto. Her bio on the event’s website identifies her as Goodwill’s co-founder and CEO.

“Her strategic leadership has helped take Goodwill from zero to a known leader in healthcare staffing,” the bio reads.

Neither Unity nor Debra Ivongbe acknowledged requests for comment. 

Greenstaff Medical Ltd. was first incorporated in Bristol, U.K., in 2003 and first registered in Canada in 2021. The following year, it received its first contract with AHS for $2.5 million, but would receive far more generous contracts in more recent years. 

Greenstaff was awarded $11.8 million in 2023/24 and $5.6 million this year, meaning it’s received a total of $20 million from AHS since 2022/23. 

The company was registered as an extra-provincial corporation in Vancouver in February 2021. 

The only name listed on its corporate registration for Alberta is Evan Low, a Calgary-based corporate lawyer. Low didn’t respond to our inquiries about who owns Greenstaff Canada and what the company’s relationship with Greenstaff U.K. is. 

CNS Medical and Nurse Relief continue to be the two largest recipients of AHS contracts in 2023/24 and 2024/25, as they were from 2015/16 to 2022/23. 

CNS, which received $32.9 million from 2020/21 to 2022/23, was awarded $43.3 million in 2023/24 and $15.5 million in 2024/25, bringing its total to $91.7 million. 

Nurse Relief, which was awarded $17.6 million from 2020/21 to 2022/23, received $33.3 million in 2023/24 and $14.1 million in 2024/25, bringing its total to $65 million.