August 29, 2019
January 2020

More nurses than ever are contributing to safe nursing care through regulation

In September and October 2019, we received applications from 86 nurses for 14 committee vacancies –– a 79% increase in the number of applications from the previous year. If you submitted an application, you will hear about the outcome...

We are thrilled with the great response we received when we invited nurses to apply to serve on CNO’s committees.

In September and October 2019, we received applications from 86 nurses for 14 committee vacancies –– a 79% increase in the number of applications from the previous year. It’s encouraging to see so many nurses interested in contributing to safe nursing care through participation in nursing regulation.

As part of Council’s Governance Vision, this is our second year of piloting a new process for committee appointments, which includes:

  • Asking nurses to review education about committees before they apply

  • A competency-based application and assessment process supported by a third party

What’s next?

If you applied to serve and are wondering when you’ll hear back from CNO, please note that the application process lasts several months. Here is a timeline of activities involved:

  • Third party assesses applications and resumés between October and December 2019

  • CNO’s Election and Appointments Committee reviews information to identify a short list of candidates and to prepare its recommendations to Council between January and February 2020

  • Council makes final committee appointments in March 2020

If you submitted an application, you will hear about the outcome of your application in late March 2020.

We will share key themes from the application process in an article in the April edition of The Standard.

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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