Nurse Practitioners

We understand the issues facing Ontario’s nurse practitioners (NPs) because we experience them first-hand. We are a nurses’ union, and all our resources are devoted to advancing your interests.

ONA leads the way to ensure employers and government recognize the expertise and experience NPs bring to our health-care system. We advocate for commensurate remuneration for NPs in every health-care sector across the province. This recognition is crucial to recruit and retain NPs and maintain high quality health care.

Services and Support

We are the leading voice in efforts to ensure that your unique skills are recognized and valued through fair collective agreements.

ONA has proven to be effective in advancing the interests of NPs to government:

• Lobbying government directly, including for enhanced wages for primary-care NPs.
• Meeting with ministers, the premier of Ontario, and their staff.
• Working in collaboration with other organizations, including the Nurse Practitioners’ Association of Ontario, to address issues facing NPs.
• As a member of the Joint Provincial Nursing Committee of Ontario, along with the Ministry of Health, College of Nurses of Ontario, employer groups, and nursing associations.
• Through a pan-Canadian NP study and advocacy with the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions.
• With several province-wide campaigns calling out the Ford government’s non-response to the nursing shortage.

Our efforts are paying off. There was a significant breakthrough in the 2023 round of hospital central bargaining, resulting in an arbitration decision that provided an overall average wage increase of more than 11 per cent by 2024.

We continue to make it clear that NPs’ wages and work must be further addressed and enhanced, including the implementation of a centralized NP wage grid, as part of an overall provincial nurse retention and recruitment strategy.

ONA members have direct access to our services and membership benefits including:

• Our Legal Expense Assistance Plan (LEAP) for practice-related issues.
• Our professional education programs, with many workshops conducted across the province.
• The Professional Responsibility Clause which provides you a way to report practice concerns in your workplace.
• Professional practice specialists, health and safety professionals, WSIB specialists and human rights and equity specialists who can assist you with these issues.
• ONA benefits program which provides base long-term disability for members not covered through their employer.

In everything that we do, we are committed to improving the economic welfare and quality of work-life for our members, enabling them to provide high-quality health care.

Nurse Practitioner Focus Group

ONA has established a nurse practitioner (NP) provincial focus group to ensure there is a consistent voice for ONA’s NPs. This group gives our NP members a forum to voice their interests, professional considerations, and recommendations for collective bargaining.

This focus group consists of five NPs, one from each region across the province, along with ONA staff leads for professional practice, hospitals, long-term care and community; and ONA’s Provincial First Vice-President.

Team members are selected through an expression of interest process. You can apply using our online form.

Latest Updates

The following is a selection of recent government submissions and news relevant to nurse practitioners.