The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) has released a new three-year diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) Strategy, Inclusion for All: Nothing About Us, Without Us. As Canada’s largest health care regulator, CNO is committed to addressing discrimination and fostering equitable and inclusive spaces within CNO, the health care system and our communities. The Strategy shifts our focus from a journey of discovery to an organization-wide movement to achieve transformational change.
The Strategy supports CNO’s public protection purpose by addressing bias and discrimination in regulatory processes and helping advance equity in the broader health care system. It is underscored by four key actions: evolve, educate, engage and evaluate.
“CNO recognizes our social contract with all Ontarians,” says Sandra Porteous, Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion. “This DEI Strategy makes health equity a priority by seeking to understand the perspectives and experiences of our system partners, registrants and the public. There’s a focus on equitable and transparent policies, practices and processes while conducting interactions with respect, cultural awareness and cultural humility.”
Some of the meaningful actions CNO plans to take over the next three years include hosting conversations on key topics such as Anti-Black racism in health care, medical ableism and Indigenous Healing Practices. Projects will focus on improving application processes, identifying DEI remediation needs from Professional Conduct processes and conducting reviews of health inquiry and misconduct investigations with a focus on DEI issues.
The Strategy is rooted in the principle of broadly consulting. CNO regularly engages on important issues through surveys, focus groups and listening sessions. A variety of consultation methods were used to inform this Strategy, including analyzing qualitative and quantitative data from CNO’s first Workforce Census.
“One of the reasons for conducting the Workforce Census was to identify and measure where inequities in the nursing system exist,” explains Brent Knowles, Director of Analytics and Research. “We are aware that inequities, discrimination, and systemic racism exist in our health care system, and findings from the census are consistent with what we have previously heard. Survey respondents from Equity-Deserving groups and historically marginalized communities were under-represented in positions of leadership. These insights related to nurses’ identities and their practice inform areas of focus and opportunities to build relationships with external partners who are not currently at the table.”
CNO remains committed to transparency and sharing data-driven insights, experiences and regulatory innovations to reflect public expectations, eliminate structural barriers and promote health equity. This DEI Strategy, Inclusion for All: Nothing About Us, Without Us, charts the way forward.