May 01, 2024
October 2020

Join CNO’s Council and make a difference for patients

Every day, you speak up for your patients. You advocate for their safe care and help them meet their specific care goals in many different ways. It’s something you all do as nurses — no matter your role, title or practice setting — every day.

If you are interested in advocating for safe, quality nursing care at a policy and strategic level, consider running for election to CNO’s Council. By participating in nursing regulation, you have an opportunity to ensure that all Ontarians receive the best possible nursing care.

Every day, you speak up for your patients. You advocate for their safe care and help them meet their specific care goals in many ways. It’s something you all do as nurses — no matter your role, title or practice setting — every day.

If you are interested in advocating for safe, quality nursing care at a policy and strategic level, consider running for election to CNO’s Council. By participating in nursing regulation, you have an opportunity to ensure that all Ontarians receive the best possible nursing care.

How does it work?

Council is CNO’s board of directors, and it’s comprised of nurses and members of the public. Together, they have one goal: to protect the public. Council makes important decisions that shape the regulation of nursing and promote public safety.

When you sit on Council, you don’t represent nurses — you represent patients. Your role is to bring your nursing expertise and your own unique attributes and competencies to Council’s discussions.

This year, we’re holding elections in the Southwestern and Central Western districts for RNs (including NPs) and RPNs, as well as in the Central Toronto district for RPNs. If you are eligible to participate in this election, watch your email inbox — we’ll send you the nomination form on Friday, Oct. 23, 2020.

Is Council right for me?

Serving on Council requires a significant commitment. If you’re passionate about patient safety, then sitting on Council will be a personally and professionally rewarding experience. To help you decide if becoming a member of Council is right for you, this educational video series will give you an idea of what it’s like to join the board. Watching the series is the first step on your journey.

Your second step? Go to www.cno.org/elections to begin your nomination and learn more about joining the board. But don’t delay — the deadline to submit your nomination is Friday, Nov. 27, 2020.

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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