May 12, 2025

Happy Nursing Week from Silvie Crawford

Dear nurses of Ontario,

This Nursing Week we want to recognize you, the nurses of Ontario, for your compassion, expertise and commitment to providing excellent care in the varied practice settings you work in and contribute to.

Thank you for leading, supporting and enriching our communities in so many ways. 

Across the spectrum of practice settings, nurses shape the health care landscape, drive innovation and promote safe patient-centred care. The impact you have on patients and those whose lives you touch through your practice is truly transformational.

I also want to acknowledge, with gratitude, your dedication to providing safe and quality care in a rapidly evolving health care environment. Thank you for answering CNO’s calls to share your insights and for the incredibly valuable contributions many of you have made through sharing feedback during public consultations, as a member of Council, on a CNO Committee, or appearing in one of our campaigns. Your diverse perspectives and experiences help promote equitable access to care and shape the future of patient care in Ontario.

During Nursing Week let’s celebrate the vibrant diversity of our nursing community. Throughout the year we highlight nursing trailblazers to recognize those who have championed positive change in the nursing profession. Today, and throughout the week, we want to celebrate you, the nurses of Ontario, for the groundbreaking work you do each and every day!

I invite you to join CNO in celebrating National Nursing Week by sharing messages of gratitude and appreciation for your nursing mentors, colleagues, students and communities on our Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram channels.

On behalf of everyone at CNO, thank you for the irreplaceable impact you have on the lives of your patients and for your dedication to protecting the public through safe nursing practice. 

Best,

Silvie Crawford, RN, CNO Registrar/Executive Director and CEO

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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