This paper explores the issues surrounding international nurse migration to Canada. Within the context of Karl Marx's idea of a "disposable industrial reserve army [of labor]" (Magdoff & Magdoff, p. 20; Marx, 1887, p. 438), this paper posits that internationally educated nurses (IENs) are viewed as disposable labour who have the potential to assume different labour requirements needed by the receiving nation state (Magdoff & Magdoff, p. 26). This paper provides a brief background of international nurse migration in history and literature. It proceeds to explore the issue of gendered and racialized labour, and a more focused discussion of the current state and pathways of IEN migration to, and the plight of IENs in Canada.