Our Union
2025 Biennial Report
This report, prepared for the 2025 Biennial Convention, highlights the important work of Ontario Nurses' Association members and staff since the 2023 Biennial.
Where has the time gone?
Two years ago at our Biennial Convention, we were celebrating 50 years of ONA’s advocacy efforts and launching a new brand meant to revitalize and transform our union, paving the way for another 50 years of progress.
In 2023, I was excited to see how our revitalized ONA would unfold, and I must tell you, I’m not disappointed.
While these past two years have truly been a blur of challenge after challenge, hills to climb and strategies to develop, I’ve been awestruck by how you’re embracing our new attitude and joining together to fight.
You’ve done this with the goal of winning the battle to save our publicly funded and publicly delivered health-care system and regain respect for our professions.
I find it ironic that we turned to the past to revitalize our future. Our rebranded ONA has recaptured the passion and commitment shown by our founding members back in 1973. Then, ONA’s grassroots members banded together to take local action and speak truth to power. They demanded and received respect. All of us are doing the same today.
As we come together for our 2025 Convention, I believe our theme —
I am ONA—is perfect for these times. Because not only do we face constant, serious threats to our health-care system and our professions, we face threats to our country’s sovereignty.
While our Premier has taken full advantage of the threats from south of the border to distract Ontarians from what he’s doing to health care, we’re not letting him get away with it.
Now is the time for us all to speak out—we will simply not let this government destroy our uniquely Canadian universal public health-care system in favour of a for-profit U.S.-style one. And you know what? We will win.
We will win because each of you knows the following to be true: I am ONA.
We’re leaving the days of being polite, patient and silent behind. We’re in the fight of our lives. For respect. For our professions. For our own health and well-being and safety. We’re professionals and deserve respect, safety and so much more.
While the attacks on us and our union are coming from Premier Ford and employers, we remain steadfast in our knowledge that we’re fighting for what’s right, not what corporations and bosses want.
We don’t accept their positions and make no secret of it.
We don’t stay silent as they seek to continually damage our safety and downplay our contributions to care. We know better.
I am so proud. You each are ONA. I am ONA. Together, we are ONA.
Thank you for trusting and believing in our union and for allowing me to be your Provincial President. I know you’re with me.
Erin Ariss, RN
Provincial President
We asked the Board: What does I am ONA mean to you?
First Vice-President
Portfolio: Local Political Actions (Local Campaigns)
Advocacy for our public health-care system, our colleagues and communities are at the heart of my work. The ability to make change is rooted in collective power. Our voices can’t be silenced anymore! I am ONA.
Treasurer
Since joining ONA in 1986, I have felt a responsibility to participate as an active member. Sometimes by attending meetings, asking questions and reading provincial mailouts to stay informed. Other times by running for Bargaining Unit, Local or Board positions. ONA is a team I believe in. This is why I am ONA.
Vice-President, Region 1
Portfolio: Professional Issues
I am ONA. In the last two years, ONA has redefined what it was always meant to be: a union of formidable members supporting one another across all sectors and designations. Giving members a voice to fiercely fight for their rights to fair wages, safe working conditions and manageable workloads.
Vice-President, Region 2
Portfolio: Occupational Health and Safety
How am I ONA? It’s a good question. I am ONA because I’m a nurse, a voice, a fighter and I’m angry. Angry about the constant devaluing of a profession where knowledge is key and strength is paramount.
Vice-President, Region 3
Portfolio: Human Rights and Equity
I am ONA. I stand for every voice silenced, every right denied and every person marginalized. I challenge racism, reject oppression, and defend equity to build a union where every nurse belongs and every voice matters—and until equity is our reality.
Vice-President, Region 4
Portfolio: Education and Events
I picture an army; members on a battlefield. I see power and opportunity, the ground shaking beneath our collective feet. Governments and employers quaking at the sight. The world on our shoulders, but bearable because SHE ahead of me is ONA and so are THEY beside me and HE behind me. I am ONA, but not alone.
Vice-President, Region 5
Portfolio: Labour Relations (Contract Administration)
I am ONA means security. It stands for the biggest and fiercest nurses’ union. It comes with great resources and assistance. It offers opportunities for public engagement and education. And it involves great people—members and staff united—doing arduous but very important work.
Most of us are familiar with the often-quoted maxim, “It takes a village to raise a child.” I believe that this saying, which touts the benefits of collective involvement and efforts to reach valuable goals, also applies to building our union.
Our union has been growing in power since 1973 and has recently seen a renaissance of member engagement. Much of this has come about out of necessity, due to the serious challenges we have faced from the pandemic, a lack of health and safety, outrageous government policies that harm our profession, and a shortage of nurses and health-care professionals that endangers both members’ safety and patients.
More than ever, ONA members have shared goals that are imperative to reach—from demanding respect for the work you do to safe staffing ratios for everyone’s benefit.
This union that we’ve been nurturing and growing since 1973 exemplifies the idea that collectively, we have the power to achieve great things.
As our mission, vision and value statement lays out, as we grow our commitment to moving ahead as a collective, we will succeed. If empowered members take collective action, we can achieve safe, equitable workplaces and high-quality health care for all Ontarians. And we will do so with strength and unity, integrity and professionalism, while embracing our differences and working towards a system and society that values, includes and respects everyone.
All of ONA’s operations are directly funded through the membership dues of every one of our dedicated nurses and health-care professionals. With this funding, all ONA staff ensure that our members have the tools, support, guidance and expertise needed to live up to our commitments to the membership Strategic Plan and ONA’s mission, vision and values.
Staff on all ONA teams are working hard to support you on the front lines, caring for Ontarians. At every step along the way, we’re guided by our members’ first-ever Strategic Plan.
We have stood alongside members through negotiations in every sector, we’ve helped mobilize, organize and motivate members to speak out for what you need—staffing ratios, good pay, respect, health and safety, protection from violence—and we’ve represented members with employers and a government bent on destroying our public health-care system.
As we reflect on the last two years, we all can and should celebrate how far we’ve come while setting our sights on achieving success for what’s ahead.
We’re embarking on a new process to develop ONA’s next Strategic Plan, so we can move forward with the same dedication as always, and the unflinching desire to grow and meet every challenge head on.
As ONA’s Chief Executive Officer, I’m immensely proud of all our operations staff across every level of the organization. It really does “take a village” to achieve successes like ONA has and continues to work towards, and it takes every one of us to get there.
Andrea Kay, RN
Chief Executive Officer
ONA has made significant strides in fulfilling our 2021-2026 Strategic Plan, advancing each of our six strategic priorities since the last Biennial Convention.
In addition to the accomplishments listed in this section, we’ve developed the tools and systems to monitor our progress and report on our measures of success.
An example of these systems is the launch of our member and staff surveys and the creation of a dashboard that will allow ONA to report on our measures visually, including year-over-year trending for each metric. The dashboard will serve as a valuable tool for the Board of Directors to identify what’s working well, where course correction may be needed on delivering on the Strategic Plan, and to support informed decision-making.
ONA is also looking ahead to the development of our 2027-2031 Strategic Plan. The Board of Directors and leadership are committed to keeping members at the centre of the strategic planning process.
To achieve this, ONA is hosting our first-ever Members’ Assembly on Strategic Planning. The assembly will bring together 30 grassroots members who will be randomly selected from those who expressed interest in the process via an invitation sent to 10,000 randomly selected members from across the province. These members will be representative of ONA’s overall membership by age, region, designation and other criteria.
The assembly will learn about ONA’s current state, issues in Ontario and abroad, and the implementation and impact of our current Strategic Plan. They will also explore emerging trends and future challenges that ONA could face. Members will then deliberate on ONA’s future priorities and develop considerations for our new Strategic Plan. This input will inform the development of that plan, which will launch at the Provincial Coordinators Meeting in November 2026.
Highlights under each strategic priority since the 2023 Biennial Convention include:
ONA’s award-winning communications are guided by two strategic priorities: keeping members informed and telling Ontarians the brutal truth.
Nowhere is this more evident than in our standout Nurses Talk Truth advertising campaigns, which target the Ford government, highlighting its disastrous impacts on nurses, health-care professionals and our public health care:
Metrics show our ads reached millions of Ontarians, who visited campaign websites and shared our messages.
ONA’s website (ona.org) remains a key touchpoint for members and the public. From September 2023 to September 2025, we had more than 1.2 million sessions and 2.1 million pageviews. In 2024, we fully redesigned our website to embody our fierce brand, empowering members to action and celebrating our grassroots advocacy. We also redesigned our Local website template, an essential way to keep members connected and informed. More than 30 Locals now have their own websites.
We continue to be a trusted source of health-care information. From September 2023 to August 2025, ONA received more than 8,300 mentions in news media, with the majority in broadcast (television and radio), for 2.2 billion potential views. Coverage was driven by issues such as hospital bargaining, workplace violence and the nursing shortage.
In keeping with the times, ONA shifted from our printed Front Lines publication to an edgy digital magazine in April 2025 (onamag.org), with a bold, brash name to match. F-Word provides an outlet for members to share their stories, rants and praise about their experiences on the front lines and beyond without censorship and sugar coating, and they’re overwhelmingly embracing it.
A new quarterly email newsletter was launched in October 2024, focusing on contract administration wins, to complement our monthly eBulletin and four other topic-specific email newsletters (professional practice, health and safety, education, and human rights and equity). We continue to see exceptionally strong open rates.
By embracing new platforms, such as Bluesky, ONA has expanded our presence on social media. As of September 2025, we have more than 97,000 followers across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Bluesky and X. In the past year, ONA recorded more than 34 million impressions and one million engagements on our posts.
As in 2022, the Doug Ford Conservatives won a third majority in a 2025 snap election, and ONA continued to strongly fight back against their attacks.
The early election was called when polling showed the Conservatives were well ahead in popularity, largely due to Premier Ford’s actions regarding President Donald Trump’s tariff threats.
This third majority win has seen the government quickly pass a number of damaging pieces of legislation that will harm Ontarians and our publicly delivered, publicly funded health-care system. This legislation includes:
In total, ONA has provided feedback on 30 government regulations, consultations or pieces of legislation since November 2023. This includes:
ONA has met with many MPPs, both in government and opposition during the timespan of this report. We have also:
ONA’s nursing student affiliates continue to benefit from the union’s advocacy efforts and support. We’re surveying nursing students on primary care, lobbying government on paid clinical placements and the expansion of the learn and stay program, and advocating for tuition-free education, which police already have.
Over the past two years, ONA members in several sectors have built their power and organized collective actions to improve their working conditions and the quality of care for patients, residents and clients.
ONA and our members were engaged in several mobilizing and provincial campaigns, including:
In April 2024, nurse practitioners and registered nurses at the Lakeshore Area Multi-Service Project (LAMP) in Toronto began organizing for a new collective agreement to demand fair wages and wage parity with hospitals. They identified that the lack of fair wages was contributing to a retention and recruitment issue.
Throughout bargaining, their employer continued to avoid their demand for fair wages. LAMP members organized a sticker up action to show the employer their collective power and launched an electronic emailer to build local community support for their demands. They gathered 186 email signatures and were finally able to ratify a memorandum of agreement on October 30, 2024. Through organizing, LAMP members secured major contract improvements and were pleased that their achievements in bargaining were directly related to their strong majority collective actions.
Members know that solidarity means showing up and showing out for our union siblings to amplify their demands. Over the past two years, members supported striking LCBO workers (members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union), other health-care workers who are part of the Ontario Coalition of Health Unions, the Canadian Union of Public Employees Villa Columbo workers and more.
As well, members endorsed the Migrant Rights Network’s Status for All campaign and mobilized to attend province-wide solidarity actions.
In 2024, ONA introduced a new transparent way of provincial bargaining, giving members opportunities to provide feedback on our bargaining demands.
As result, members are now directly involved in developing proposals and voting on which ones will be presented to employer representatives. ONA and employer proposals are posted on Access ONA to ensure continued transparency.
Despite valiant efforts from our Hospital Provincial Negotiating Team and a bold province-wide campaign, provincial bargaining didn’t result in a negotiated settlement with the Ontario Hospital Association, which disrespected our members throughout the process. As a result, we proceeded to four days of arbitration. To ONA’s absolute disgust, the decision by Arbitrator Sheri Price, released on September 3, 2025, contained nominal wage increases of three and 2.25 per cent in 2025 and 2026 respectively, using retail clerks and office workers as comparators, and didn’t address the serious issues of safe staffing ratios and violence in the workplace.
ONA’s Nursing Homes Provincial Negotiating Team led members through a campaign targeting wages, care over profits and safe staffing. This collective push achieved significant wage gains of 11.5 per cent over a two-year contract.
Most negotiations went to interest arbitration as employers weren’t prepared to adopt hospital wages, unlimited mental health coverage and isolation pay. After reviewing additional decisions, direction was amended to unlimited mental health coverage to $3,000 per year. Many settlements have been achieved because of this amended direction.
Victorian Order of Nurses provincial negotiations began in September 2025. The employer didn’t agree to voluntary arbitration. A strong strike mandate was received from members should bargaining not be successful.
Four mergers are underway under the Public Sector Labour Relations Transition Act that will adopt changes to eight of ONA’s current public health units. Settlements continue to be achieved with compensation increases of two to four per cent, along with benefits and other improvements.
Wage improvements in primary care are minor, if achieved at all, given the underfunding of Ontario’s community and family health teams. ONA continues to push for improved funding and value recognition for this sector. Industry settlements are tied to the automobile industry. The future of these improvements is unclear given the instability of this sector.
ONA was approached by the employer to merge all plasma and whole blood collective agreements. Work is now underway to achieve this on behalf of members.
Legislation passed merging all 14 branches into one. The parties and unions reached an agreement and there will be two Bargaining Units moving forward. The classifications covered by those Bargaining Units and access agreement discussions continue, with an anticipated vote on the successor union(s) before the end of 2025.
Addressing grievances is at the core of ONA’s work. Each year, in close partnership with our committed front-line leaders, we handle thousands of member cases, always aiming to resolve issues before they reach arbitration.
Here are three standout victories from the time period of this report.
The employer had a recurring issue with posting schedules late. In response, we filed a grievance seeking premium pay for all prescheduled shifts during the two- week pay period when the schedule was posted past the required deadline.
Relying on the Local collective agreement provisions regarding scheduling violations and entitlement to premium pay, we pursued the case through the grievance process. Before moving to arbitration, the employer agreed at Step 2 to compensate affected members with premium pay for all their shifts during the impacted period.
ONA secured a successful outcome that not only delivered fair compensation to our members, but also reinforced the importance of adhering to scheduling timelines.
ONA filed a grievance after identifying that the employer had been improperly rounding down nurses’ overtime hours when they worked past the end of their scheduled shifts. This practice led to the systemic underpayment of nurses, who weren’t being compensated for all minutes worked.
We successfully demonstrated that this violated both the collective agreement and employment standards legislation, which clearly entitle employees to be paid for every minute of work performed.
As a result of the grievance resolution:
This win reinforced the importance of accurate payroll practices and upheld nurses’ rights to fair compensation for all time worked.
This member had been on long-term disability (LTD) for a lower extremity illness. During medical leave, they were in a car accident and later sustained a fall, both causing neck injuries. At the change of definition phase, LTD was ended on the basis they weren’t totally disabled from ANY occupation related to the original illness. A return-to-work attempt lasted only four weeks. With no income and facing financial hardship, the member considered early retirement.
ONA filed a grievance and argued that short-term disability (STD) benefits under the Hospitals of Ontario Disability Income Plan should be reinstated to the member because: 1) the disability stemmed from new injuries, and 2) their return to work exceeded three weeks, triggering a reset of STD entitlements.
We won! The employer conceded, and the grievance was resolved. The member is now on medical leave with STD benefits at 100 per cent of regular earnings.
(September 1, 2023 to August 31, 2025)
| Sector | Number of Grievances |
|---|---|
| Clinics and industry | 64 |
| Home and community care support services | 236 |
| Public health units | 178 |
| Home care | 67 |
| Homes for the aged | 567 |
| Nursing homes | 1,043 |
| Hospitals | 7,253 |
| Total | 9,408 |
Under the umbrella of ONA Legal, members are provided a wide range of legal services to fight against regressive laws that disregard collective agreements and bargaining processes with tremendous success.
ONA’s most notable win from the last two years was against the Ford government’s wage restraint legislation, Bill 124. The bill, introduced in late 2019, imposed a one per cent cap on total compensation for many public-sector workers, but didn’t allow for sufficient consultation or collective bargaining within its restrictions, with no meaningful exemption process.
The bill sparked outrage among members, who took to the streets to make their anger known while ONA spoke out in the media and lobbied the government relentlessly, and launched a Charter challenge with union counterparts.
While the Ontario Superior Court struck down the bill in November 2022, the Ford government appealed. In February 2024, the Ontario Court of Appeal affirmed that Bill 124 was unconstitutional.
This case confirmed that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects the freedom of association for workers, which includes the right to form associations and bargain effectively with employers. The Court of Appeal unequivocally rejected the government’s arguments that the cap was required due to a financial crisis and confirmed it “substantially interfered” with the unions’ Charter right to bargain collectively. The Court recognized that there was “no evidence that the province could not achieve the same goals through collective bargaining.” The Ford government subsequently repealed Bill 124.
This win is extremely important as it severely restricts the government’s ability to repress compensation through legislation and circumvent free collective bargaining.
Health Sciences North: The local agreement imposed a two-year accrual cap for vacation. Nurses who exceeded the cap and requested vacation or a payout were denied by the employer. The arbitrator found that nurses must either be scheduled off or paid out once they hit their vacation accrual cap. Vacation is a material entitlement under the collective agreement.
Scarborough Health Network: In one of the first cases of its kind, a member who contracted long COVID was entitled to long-term disability benefits for both Own Occupation and Any Occupation basis as a result of this win.
Royal Victoria Hospital: A nurse terminated for alleged patient abuse was reinstated because the arbitrator concluded she used minimal force to safely administer medication to a resistant child, which wasn’t considered abuse.
September 1, 2023 to August 31, 2025
Total cases at arbitration
Hearings held
Total resolved/ closed cases
Preparation meetings held
2023 to 2024
ONA is extremely proud of our unique Legal Expense Assistance Plan (LEAP) and the dedicated team behind representing and assisting members who face a regulatory college complaint/report or have a medical condition impacting their ability to practice.
Here are two examples from the last two years.
A member was reported to the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) after being terminated for practice issues. LEAP counsel provided written submissions to the Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee (ICRC). The case was referred to a discipline hearing and the member acknowledged some allegations. However, there was strong evidence she suffered significant workplace racism, which she had repeatedly reported to her employer to no avail.
Counsel argued the racism she experienced should mitigate any discipline issued against her. In April 2025, the CNO’s Discipline Committee found it wasn’t sufficiently linked to her misconduct to reduce the penalty. However, it ruled racism can be considered a mitigating factor where appropriate.
This decision, the first of its kind from the Discipline Committee, opened the door for ONA to argue in future cases that anti-Black racism should be considered where the quantum of penalty is at issue.
ONA has become increasingly aware of the workplace challenges that many internationally educated nurses (IENs) face.
In June 2005, LEAP achieved a significant result for an IEN at the CNO’s ICRC.
The member, who had no prior discipline in her year at the facility, was terminated with no warning due to three concerns—two involving communication issues.
LEAP wrote detailed submissions that drew on their research of IENs and highlighted the systemic challenges they face in a new country and an unfamiliar practice environment. LEAP also gathered evidence from the Bargaining Unit President and the facility’s nursing educator about the specific challenges for IENs at this small-town facility, where the introduction of racially diverse IENs was not entirely welcomed by patients and staff.
The ICRC issued advice, an excellent, non-public outcome for this member.
ONA remains steadfast in our commitment to protect members from health and safety hazards in the workplace and to strongly advocate for the benefits to which they are entitled.
Key to this is ensuring members are well informed and armed with the tools they need to assist with their occupational health and safety concerns and initiatives. This includes two new hazard-specific toolkits produced by our team of dedicated Health and Safety Specialists during the timespan of this report: Infectious Disease Toolkit and Psychological Injury Toolkit.
Following the recent ruling by the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) that a sexual assault of a health-care worker by a physician constituted workplace violence and not sexual harassment, which highlights a gap in legislation that puts members at risk, we continue to fight for change.
Alarmingly, over the last two years, we have also seen an increase in violence involving weapons, and with the first weapons detection system implemented in a Canadian hospital, interest in Ontario is growing. ONA developed a recommendation on these systems for Joint Health and Safety Committees (JHSCs) to submit to their employers.
In response to a lack of action from Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development inspectors, ONA escalated concerns to district Ministry managers, demanding action and that inspectors return to the workplace to re-investigate hazards and concerns. We continue to file appeals at the OLRB when there are no or inadequate orders to address hazards.
The 2024 Health and Safety Caucus focused on workplace violence, with a toolkit developed to support members, while the 2025 Caucus empowered JHSC representatives to exercise their legislative powers. Both caucuses, held for all five ONA regions (either in-person or virtually), were exceedingly well attended.
Formed just three years ago, ONA’s Long-Term Disability (LTD) Appeals Team continues to have great success fighting for members’ disability benefits while continuing to advance our mission to defend the rights of and advocate for nurses and health-care professionals. The team manages upwards of 200 cases per year.
Appeals submitted
Retroactive money in members’ pockets
ONA’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) Appeals Team helps members navigate the complex appeals system and supports them throughout their claims. This includes appeals of WSIB claim denials and adverse decisions before the WSIB Operations and Appeals Services Division as well as the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal, the independent tribunal and final level of appeal. The team handles about 300 member files at any given time.
(January 2024 to July 2025)
| Item | Total |
|---|---|
| Total written and oral submissions | 175 |
| Files closed | 201 |
| Initial merit review | 197 |
| Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal wins | 100% win rate |
| Appeal wins | 80% win rate |
| Money in members’ pockets | $3,601,095.34 |
Until all workers receive equal treatment and are free from discrimination and harassment in their workplaces, ONA’s critical human rights and equity (HRE) work will remain a core service.
This was amplified by the recent decision to create a dedicated Anti-Racism, Equity and Human Rights Board Committee. In January 2025, our existing HRE Team and Anti-Racism Advisory Team converged for an in-person meeting to review and determine next steps. The committee will be chaired by the Regional Vice-President with the HRE portfolio and one additional Board member, and will initially contain at least three members from each of ONA’s equity-deserving groups (Racialized, Black, Indigenous, Disabilities, Francophone and 2SLGBTQI) along with allies. Action teams, comprised of at least three members, a staff lead and subject matter expert, as needed, will assist with the committee’s scope of work and ensure activities remain responsive and collaborative.
ONA’s participation in the Toronto Pride Parade, which wraps up Pride Month each June, continues to grow exponentially, with 75 members taking part this year.
Amidst rising hate crimes and backlash against many of our rights, never has it been so important to be loud and proud in defense of 2SLGBTQI members and fight against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
In both 2024 and 2025, members joined the Board of Directors and staff to walk the parade route alongside our vibrant float in eye-catching t-shirts displaying a rainbow-inspired ONA logomark on the front and a strong message of empowerment and acceptance (“You are amazing, beautiful and enough”) on the back to the loud cheers of the crowd.
Under the theme, Building Bridges: Championing Diversity, Promoting Inclusion and Creating Equitable Communities, ONA welcomed more than 400 attendees to our fall 2023 HRE Caucus. A key objective was to continue building our Communities of Support, a valuable opportunity for members to engage with others within their equity-deserving group.
The November 2024 Caucus focused on two of these groups: members living with disabilities and Francophone members. It featured moving first-hand accounts of ONA’s assistance with accommodation issues, our first French panel, and words of inspiration from disability rights advocate Andrea Dalzell, the first registered nurse using a wheelchair in New York state.
Planning for the 2025 event, renamed the HRE Summit, also got underway during the timespan of this report. Instead of a specific theme, the Summit will focus more broadly on exploring all equity-deserving communities and building support.
Now in its fourth year, ONA’s HRE Book Club remains popular with members and staff. Book titles are selected through an HRE lens and have included women’s, 2SLGBTQI, Indigenous and disability issues. Book club members can win prizes by earning points for joining, participating in polls and attending virtual meetings.
Through growing engagement from ONA leaders and members, and strengthened collaboration with the Professional Practice Team, important progress was made in resolving workload issues, improving work environments and advancing quality care across Ontario.
December 2023 saw the full implementation of a significant change to ONA’s professional responsibility process. Professional Practice Specialists are now engaged at the outset of files, bringing their expertise earlier in the process and supporting file management. This enables regional Labour Relations Officers to focus on grievances and strengthens Bargaining Unit capacity for quicker resolutions. A 15-month secondee delivered one-on-one education on the new process and workload tracking tools to more than 70 Bargaining Units.
We have already seen great success, including a significant increase in settlements and positive leader feedback. In the last four months of 2023, 11 settlements were reached, which more than doubled to 25 in 2024. By August 27, 2025, we had already surpassed the previous year’s total with 27 settlements. These settlements span the hospital, long-term care, Ontario Health atHome and community sectors, and support not only staffing but improvements in equipment, education, policies, and health and safety.
This reflects both an improved process and the concrete outcomes achieved through settlements that boost health-care staffing. In 2024, settlements added more than 88,000 hours (70,315 registered nurse, 4,380 registered practical nurse and 13,622 non-nursing), strengthening capacity and improving care.
By 2025, more than 83,500 hours (67,344 registered nurse, 7,800 registered practical nurse and 8,380 non-nursing) had already been secured.
During the period of this report, ONA also achieved important gains through Independent Assessment Committee (IAC) hearings, including:
From 2024 to 2005, staff delivered nine sessions on a variety of Professional Practice topics to more than 190 attendees. These sessions give leaders and members direct access to specialists’ expertise and practical tools for navigating the professional responsibility process.
| Year | Cases Opened | Cases Closed | Still Active* | Signed Settlements |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 (September to December) | 210 | 178 | 32 | 11 |
| 2024 | 703 | 487 | 216 | 25 |
| 2025 (to August 27) | 637 | 215 | 422 | 27 |
| Totals | 1,550 | 880 | 670 | 63 |
Led by our Member Education (ME) and Member Experience/Events teams, ONA continued to design and deliver interactive learning opportunities in- person and virtually at the Local level, along with a plethora of multifaceted provincial events to assist members with their professional and union lives.
The ME Team released more than seven new workshops in the past two years, while revising most of the pre-existing ones. These workshops centre around anti-racism and anti-oppression (ARAO), human rights and equity, health and safety, political action, leadership and more. The team plans to release additional workshops in the future, with one already scheduled for January 2026 on the College of Nurses of Ontario’s Code of Conduct.
On April 1, 2025, a new eLearning platform was launched, and all certificates from courses completed on the old platform have been transferred over. Since going live, several engaging course topics have been made available, including negotiations, sector-specific professional responsibility and workload processes, health and safety, grievances and ARAO. A new course also went live with the platform’s launch, Welcome to Your ONA. At the time of reporting, there were 119 enrollments and 51 certificates awarded for successful completion of this course.
In April 2024, ONA held a special one-time spring Leadership Summit in addition to the annual September event. Sessions were designed around building emotional intelligence and trust, strategic grievance handling and labour arbitration foundations.
For the first time, a diversity, equity and inclusion stream was delivered at our September 2024 Leadership Summit. It provided key learnings about ARAO, recognizing it as a core component of ONA’s work. Participants learned skills to campaign for change and were given the opportunity to present in groups on how they will use this information in their workplaces.
Following the launch of ONA’s renewed brand at Biennial 2023, our provincial events continued to further solidify its image and principles. Sessions have been offered at events, such as Provincial Leadership Meetings and Provincial Coordinators Meetings, to engage and inform members on the new brand identity.
In June 2025, ONA co-hosted the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) Biennial Convention in Niagara Falls, where an apology was formally issued to Indigenous peoples with a resolution passed afterwards. The week-long event ended with a rally of more than 1,000 Canadian nurses, including dozens of ONA members, to fight for a fully staffed and funded public health-care system.
If ONA members are the ones who care for Ontarians, then our dedicated staff are the ones who care for them. From labour relations services to legal help to administrative work behind the scenes, staff are here to ensure members have the support they need when they need it.
For the year ended December 31, 2024.
Two years ago, ONA launched a bold brand renewal that has taken us on a transformative journey I could never have imagined. Our members have become fiercer in dealing with the harmful initiatives of employers. Feistier in pushing back against the draconian policies of the Ford government. And fighters through and through. I couldn’t be prouder to be leading this army of formidable members who will never be silenced again.
ONA Provincial President Erin Ariss, RN
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