December 15, 2022
December 2022

Silvie Crawford reflects on 2022

The end of the calendar year is an opportunity to reflect, and by any measure 2022 was extraordinary.

There continued to be significant challenges in our health care system, and there was also great work accomplished to support safe nursing practice and patient safety.

Looking back on the year that was, I am so grateful for all the dedicated work that so many nurses, health care partners and College of Nurses of Ontario staff contributed. That work from these different groups took all sorts of forms, whether it was administering vaccines, anticipating the needs of patients or implementing policies to support health human resources, and all of it combined to make our health care system better.

She’s looking forward to building on successes in 2023

The end of the calendar year is an opportunity to reflect, and by any measure 2022 was extraordinary.

There continued to be significant challenges in our health care system, and there was also great work accomplished to support safe nursing practice and patient safety.

Looking back on the year that was, I am so grateful for all the dedicated work that so many nurses, health care partners and College of Nurses of Ontario staff contributed. That work from these different groups took all sorts of forms, whether it was administering vaccines, anticipating the needs of patients or implementing policies to support health human resources, and all of it combined to make our health care system better.

At CNO, we have been hard at work in 2022 to do our part. We set new registration records, with 12,197 new registrants as of Dec. 1. That in part reflects the success of our new Supervised Practice Experience Program, which launched in Jan. 2022 and through which we have since registered over 1,000 nurses. We also modernized the applicant assessment experience and, working with the government, updated the Temporary Class registration. These are just a few examples of our efforts to support the health care system with nurses who have the knowledge, skill and judgment to practice safely.

We know that there is more work to do, so we are looking forward to 2023. It represents an opportunity to build on our collective success, and I’m excited to do so.

While the work each of us does across the health care system is varied, we are all united by a shared purpose to protect the public through safe nursing practice. I hope that you give yourself the opportunity to reflect on the past year and all the contributions you have made in big and small ways — it's easy to lose sight of the difference we can make. It is important to acknowledge all the contributions you each have made and continue to make. Thank you. 

With the winter months upon us, I hope you all find some time to enjoy the activities of the season and celebrate your many efforts of this past year.   

I know I will celebrate with gratitude the wonderful new colleagues that I have the pleasure to work with each and every day!

A happy 2022 to all, and here’s to a wonderful 2023.

Yours,

Silvie Crawford

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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