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February 27, 2026
April 2026

New Council members elected

Nurses from the Eastern, Northeastern, and Northwestern regions will join Council in June 2026 

An illustration of a hand holding a megaphone on the left and four hands with diverse skin tones holding cards with a checkmark on the right.

Nurses from the Eastern, Northeastern, and Northwestern regions will join Council in June 2026.

In January and February, nurses in three districts voted to elect new members to CNO's Council. Members of Council make decisions in the public interest that shape the regulation of nursing and promote public safety, combining this responsibility with an understanding of the profession and the settings in which it is practiced. 

These elections occur annually in rotating districts throughout Ontario. This year, elections were held to elect two RNs (or NPs) and one RPN in the Eastern electoral district; one RN (or NP) and one RPN in the Northeastern electoral district; and one RN (or NP) and one RPN in the Northwestern electoral district. (For more information about electoral districts, see our Council Elections page.) 

Congratulations and welcome to the candidates elected to
Council in 2026:

  • Kristen Neilipovitz, RN, elected in the Eastern region
  • Nicole Melnyk, RN, elected in the Eastern region
  • Sophie Viau, RPN, acclaimed in the Eastern region 
  • Lori Rietze, RN, elected in the Northeastern region
  • Kimberly Wagg, RPN, acclaimed in the Northeastern region
  • Madison Boudreau, RN, elected in the Northwestern region
  • Michael Hogard, RPN, acclaimed in the Northwestern region 

We are grateful to all the candidates who put their names forward for election, and for all the nurses who voted. 

The new members will begin their terms in June 2026. At that time, we will also bid farewell to several members of Council whose terms will end. CNO thanks the following members of Council for their commitment and contributions. 

  • Helen Anyia, RPN
  • Grace Fox, NP
  • Sylvain Leduc, NP
  • Patricia Sullivan, RN

We are grateful to all members of Council for their contributions and ongoing commitment to public safety. 

CNO’s next Council meeting is Thursday, March 12, 2026. Check our Council page to preview Council’s briefing materials and the meeting agenda. 

About CNO

The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) is the regulator of the nursing profession in Ontario. It is not a school or a nursing association. CNO acts in the public interest by:

  • assessing qualifications and registering individuals who want to practice nursing in Ontario.
  • setting the practice standards of the profession that nurses in Ontario are expected to meet.
  • promoting nurses' continuing competence through a quality assurance program.
  • holding nurses accountable to those standards by addressing complaints or reports about nursing care.

The College was founded in 1963. By establishing the College, the Ontario government was acknowledging that the nursing profession had the ability to govern itself and put the public's well-being ahead of professional interests.

For the latest information, please see our Nursing Statistics page.

Anyone who wants to use a nursing-related title — Registered Nurse (RN), Registered Practical Nurse (RPN) or Nurse Practitioner (NP) must become a member of CNO.

Frequently Asked Questions

Go to the public Register, Find a Nurse, to conduct a search for the nurse. Contact us if you can't find the person you are looking for.

All public information available about nurses is posted in the public Register, Find a Nurse, which contains profiles of every nurse in Ontario. Publicly available information about nurses include their registration history, business address, and information related to pending disciplinary hearings or past findings.

Unregistered practitioners are people who are seeking employment in nursing or holding themselves out as being able to practice nursing in Ontario, but who are not qualified to do so. They are not registered members of CNO. Only people registered with CNO can use nursing-related titles or perform certain procedures that could cause harm if carried out by a non-registered health professional. CNO takes the issue of unregistered practitioners seriously. See Unregistered Practitioners for more information.

To ensure procedural fairness for both the patient (or client) and the nurse, the Regulated Health Professions Act requires that information gathered during an investigation remain confidential until the matter is referred to the Discipline Committee or Fitness to Practise Committee. CNO will not disclose any information that could identify patients (or clients) or compromise an investigation. See Investigations: A Process Guide for more information.

Information obtained during an investigation will become public if the matter is referred to a disciplinary hearing. If a complaint is not referred to a hearing, no information will be available publicly.

See CNO's hearings schedule, which is updated as hearing dates are confirmed. Hearings at CNO are open to the public and the media. For details on how to attend a hearing, contact the Hearings Administration Team.

A summary of allegations and the disciplinary panel outcomes can be found on the public Register, Find a Nurse. Full decisions and reasons are also available.

Where a disciplinary panel makes a finding of professional misconduct, they have the authority to reprimand a nurse, and suspend or revoke a nurse's registration. Terms, conditions and limitations can also be imposed on a nurse's registration, which restricts their practice for a set period. Nurses can also be required to complete remedial activities, such as reviewing CNO documents and meeting with an expert, before returning to practice.

For detailed information see the Sexual Abuse Prevention section.

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