Tell us what you think: Changes to the Emergency Class

The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) protects the public by promoting safe nursing practice. This includes implementing changes to regulations that protects the public interest whenever government amends legislation. This is intended to ensure nurses entering the profession can provide safe and competent patient care.

We are seeking your feedback on proposed changes to regulations under the Nursing Act, 1991 that amends the registration requirements of the Emergency Class. These changes align with new requirements in the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 (RHPA) approved by government through Bill 106, of the Pandemic and Emergency Preparedness Act, 2022.

New regulations under the RHPA specify that the regulations must include:

The emergency circumstances that will cause the class to be open.
That certificates of registration expire within one year after they are issued and are renewable for the same time period, with no limit on the number of times it can be renewed as long as the emergency circumstances persist.
The circumstances in which a registrant of the emergency class may apply for another class of registration. These circumstances must exempt the applicant from at least some registration requirements that would ordinarily apply to the application.

You can read details of the proposed regulation changes on our public consultation page. All nurses are welcome to provide feedback about these proposed changes. To do so, the deadline to comment is May 7, 2023.