May 01, 2024
April 2021

16 new nurses fill committee positions

This year, despite the challenges many nurses are facing with the pandemic, 65 nurses expressed an interest in participating in CNO’s statutory committees. Thanks to this great response, we were able to fill all the vacancies — a total of 16 positions across various committees. 

Each year, CNO’s Council appoints RPNs, RNs and NPs to committees. Statutory committees, such as Discipline; Fitness to Practise; Inquiries, Complaints and Reports; Quality Assurance; and Registration, are critical to CNO’s purpose of protecting the public by promoting safe nursing practice. Nurses and public members on committees collaborate to make key decisions that affect patient safety, such as whether a person is qualified to practice nursing in Ontario.

This year, despite the challenges many nurses are facing with the pandemic, 65 nurses expressed an interest in participating in CNO’s statutory committees. Thanks to this great response, we were able to fill all the vacancies — a total of 16 positions across various committees.

Each year, CNO’s Council appoints RPNs, RNs and NPs to committees. Statutory committees, such as Discipline; Fitness to Practise; Inquiries, Complaints and Reports; Quality Assurance; and Registration, are critical to CNO’s purpose of protecting the public by promoting safe nursing practice. Nurses and public members on committees collaborate to make key decisions that affect patient safety, such as whether a person is qualified to practice nursing in Ontario.

Candidates are assessed using the competencies and attributes required for participation in statutory committees. The needs of specific committees are also considered. Our goal is to identify nurses who demonstrate a commitment to acting in patients’ best interest and who understand how nurses’ practice, behaviour and health can affect patient safety. Unfortunately, due to the limited number of vacancies on committees, not all qualified candidates could be appointed.

We hope you will continue to be interested in participating in nursing regulation. Learn more about CNO’s statutory committees, including the competencies and attributes required for committee service.

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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