Increased labour mobility, strengthened professional boundaries and expanded work in equity, inclusion and reconciliation are just a few of the accomplishments noted in CNO’s 2025 Annual Report: “Leading in a Time of Transformation.”
This report highlights our past year’s accomplishments by focusing on three themes: patient access to care, safety and patient experiences.
In 2025, CNO reinforced these priorities by modernizing our regulatory approaches, strengthening collaboration with our system partners and grounding decisions in evidence and practice. As the report shows, in times of rapid change, regulation must do more than uphold standards. It must provide clarity, enable safe transitions and support nurses and the system in responding to evolving needs while maintaining public protection.
“At CNO, our purpose remains constant: to protect the public by promoting safe, effective nursing care,” said Silvie Crawford, Registrar and CEO. “How we carry out our purpose, however, must continually adapt to reflect today’s realities.”
Highlights in the 2025 Annual Report include:
- By the numbers: 201,284 nurses fully registered.
- Patient access to care: We continued advancing labour mobility by introducing Interjurisdictional Nurse Licensure (INL), a national initiative that helps nurses maintain registration in multiple Canadian jurisdictions while streamlining regulatory requirements.
- Patient safety: We introduced a new Professional Boundaries and Nurse-Client Relationships practice standard, which offers clarity on situations where communication can blur professional lines.
- Patient experience: We also analyzed the results from our first Workforce Census, which illuminated workplace inequities related to racism, ageism and gender-based discrimination. These insights are critical, because when nurses experience discrimination, the ripple effects are felt by patients.