June 26, 2025

Enhancing labour mobility while supporting safe nursing practice


A female nurse looking upwards and smiling.

CNO has launched a new initiative called Interjurisdictional Nurse Licensure (INL), part of a national agreement by the Canadian Nurse Regulators Collaborative to help nurses maintain registration in multiple Canadian jurisdictions. The goal of INL is to enhance labour mobility by streamlining the regulatory requirements when nurses are registered to practice in multiple jurisdictions.

“This initiative will promote nurses' ability to practice and support health care systems in multiple Canadian jurisdictions,” said Silvie Crawford, Registrar/Executive Director of CNO, “while maintaining the high standard of safe and competent nursing practice.” 

How does it work?  

A nurse would have equivalent registration in two or more Canadian jurisdictions: their “home” and their “host” jurisdictions.  

A “home” jurisdiction means the Canadian jurisdiction in which they physically reside for the purposes of taxes, and in which they are registered to practice in the same category. A “host jurisdiction” means one or more Canadian jurisdictions where the nurse is registered to practice in addition to their home jurisdiction. For example, a nurse lives in B.C. and is registered to practice in B.C. The nurse can also register with CNO as their host jurisdiction and work in Ontario; B.C. will remain their home jurisdiction.

The nurse is able to practice in both jurisdictions in the equivalent registration class or category. For example, if they are a practicing RN in their “home” jurisdiction, they can apply to practice as an RN in their “host” jurisdiction(s). The nurse must be residing physically in Canada to be considered an INL registrant.   

What are the benefits?  

There are two benefits to registering with CNO as an INL registrant. The first benefit is the nurse only has to complete the quality assurance (QA) requirements in their home jurisdiction (learn more about specific QA requirements in the Interjurisdictional Nurse Licensure section). By complying with the QA program in their home jurisdiction, CNO will recognize that they have met their QA requirements.

The second benefit is that CNO will provide a 25% rebate on the annual fee when a nurse initially registers, renews or reinstates with CNO as their host jurisdiction.   

Learn more about Interjurisdictional Nurse Licensure.

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