TORONTO, ON, May 9, 2025 – From May 12 to 18, the 68,000 members of the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) will mark Nursing Week by doing what nurses do best – speaking the truth about the issues facing our health-care system and offering achievable solutions to improve our public health care for everyone.
“We are not only celebrating the work of Ontario’s registered nurses, nurse practitioners and registered practical nurses this Nursing Week, we are speaking out about what the Ford government is doing to our health-care system – and how we can fix it,” says ONA Provincial President Erin Ariss, RN.
ONA’s theme for Nursing Week this year, chosen by front-line members, is “Raising our voices. Speaking the truth.” It captures the sentiment of a growing movement of ONA members who have organized rallies, marches and other actions to amplify serious health-care challenges, primarily due to the policies of the Ford government.
“The Ford government has created a crisis in our health-care system, and they are failing to fix it. Any front-line nurse can tell you they have failed to improve staffing shortages and have withheld billions in funding from our public health-care system, while Ontarians face closures and service cuts,” says Ariss. “Ford is pursuing a reckless agenda to dismantle public health care piece by piece and make it private. Ford needs to listen to nurses, who have real solutions to ending the staffing crisis and improving care – and it’s not brain surgery.”
ONA is calling for minimum nurse-to-patient staffing ratios – a straightforward way to guarantee there are enough nurses to care for patients. They have been shown to help retain and recruit staff, including attracting back nurses who have left their profession. Nursing ratios have worked around the world, saving health-care dollars by improving patient outcomes. They are proven to not only fix staffing issues but ensure health and safety and improve access to timely care.
“Ontario’s nurses are celebrating and fighting back this Nursing Week,” says Ariss. We’re fighting for each other, for our patients, residents and clients, and for a strong and accessible publicly funded and delivered health-care system for everyone here.”
ONA is the union representing more than 68,000 registered nurses and health-care professionals, as well as 18,000 nursing student affiliates, providing care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, clinics and industry.
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