March 23, 2023

CNO considers fee increase to protect public safety

To protect the public by promoting safe nursing practice, CNO’s operations are supported by annual membership renewal and application fees. This year, we are considering increasing fees to continue regulating nursing in the public interest, and to maintain public confidence and safety, while remaining financially sustainable.  

Fees support core regulatory work

Nurses in Ontario have a long history of self-regulation in the public interest.

To protect the public by promoting safe nursing practice, CNO’s operations are supported by annual membership renewal and application fees. This year, we are considering increasing fees to continue regulating nursing in the public interest, and to maintain public confidence and safety, while remaining financially sustainable.  

“It is a step we take with consideration and following due diligence — CNO only raises fees when necessary to ensure financial sustainability,” says Stephen Mills, Chief Administrative Officer. “We know that a fee increase is never easy and this comes at a challenging time for nurses and the health care system,” he added.

Fees support our regulatory work registering nurses, setting the standards for safe practice, ensuring nurses engage in Quality Assurance, and responding to concerns. These include initiatives such as Modernizing Applicant Assessment, the Supervised Practice Experience Partnership and modernizing registration requirements. We are also transforming the Quality Assurance Program, and support an annual average of 60,000 phone calls and 36,000 emails from nurses like you.

Under the proposal the annual membership renewal fee would increase from $270 to $340 for 2024. It is the first proposed CNO fee increase in five years, and with it, Ontario nurses will still have the lowest annual membership fees of any regulated health care profession in Ontario. It is also an amount that is at the low end of what is paid by nurses in other provinces. 

At its March 9 meeting, Council discussed the proposed fee increase and reviewed the financial projections of CNO, considering whether the proposed increase would be necessary for CNO to continue to regulate nursing for the province.

The proposal is now open for public consultation and you can share your thoughts. Visit our public consultation page to provide feedback until Tuesday, May 23, 2023. You can also read our FAQs about fee changes on our website.

CNO will collect the feedback and share a detailed report with Council, who will review prior to their discussion at the June meeting. 

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.

Related links