Registed Nurses' Association of Ontario
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This year marks RNAO's 90th anniversary. Since 1925, RNAO has advocated for healthy public policy, promoted excellence in nursing practice and influenced decisions that affect nurses and the public they serve. Through nine decades, RNAO has established itself as the voice of Ontario's nurses, speaking out for nursing and speaking out for health.

Today, more than 42,000 registered nurses, nurse practitioners and nursing students help make our professional association stronger than ever. Join us in celebrating 90 years of influence and impact.

RNAO's PROUD PAST

1920s
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
1920s
RNAO's first official president, Florence Emory, was elected in 1926.

1925 The Graduate Nurses' Association of Ontario's (GNAO) name is changed under the Ontario Companies Act to be known as the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO). The GNAO was formed in 1904 as Ontario's provincial nursing organization, and was largely responsible for the passing of the Nurses Registration Act of 1922.

1926 Florence Emory is elected as RNAO's first president, taking over for Miss Dickson, who assumed the role unofficially the previous year.

1930s
A group of nurses in 1933 take the provincial nursing exam.

1930 An RNAO committee is formed to create a loan fund (now known as the Permanent Education Fund) to assist members in financing post-basic nursing courses.

1935 RNAO is instrumental in developing standards for nursing education and practice, and subsequently closes 37 small schools of nursing in Ontario that do not meet its requirements. The association protects the title “registered nurse” by making registration mandatory.

1940s
A nurse during World War II is pictured in this undated photo.

1945 The RNAO News Bulletin begins publication.

1950s
In 1956, construction begins of RNAO’s office building at 33 Price St., Toronto. RNAO would later move to 438 University Ave., Toronto, in 1995, then to 158 Pearl St., Toronto, in 2005.

1951 The Nurses’ Registration Act, 1951, the culmination of years of effort and a milestone in the history of nursing in Ontario, is passed, giving the association responsibility for: creating regulations regarding standards of admission to schools of nursing; determining courses of study in these schools; setting examinations for registration; and issuing, renewing, and cancelling certificates of registration.

1956 RNAO moves into its new headquarters on Price Street in Toronto.

1960s
1960s- RNAO members at the 1969 AGM raise their hands to vote on a motion

1963 The Nurses’ Act is proclaimed in January 1963, establishing the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO). With this change in legislation, registration becomes the responsibility of the college rather than RNAO. At the request of Ontario's Ministry of Health, RNAO had studied the feasibility of an Ontario college of nurses, a body to be authorized by the government to administer a statute or act respecting nurses, and to implement its terms.

1965 RNAO issues a brief, The Nurses' Collective Bargaining Act, which would give RNAO the right to bargain collectively on behalf of its membership. Although the Ontario government does not act on the proposed legislation, RNAO membership endorses the principle of collective bargaining. Over the next eight years, RNAO assists groups of members and nurses to bargain collectively with their employers under the Labour Relations Act.

1970s
Laura Butler, RNAO president from 1969-1971, is interviewed by the media.

1970 Members can enrol in an RNAO-sponsored professional liability (malpractice) insurance plan.

1971 RNAO expresses concerns related to smoking and health, and supports the Federal Minister of Health and Welfare in legislation proposed to curb tobacco advertising.

1974 The Ontario Nurses Association (ONA) is certified by the Labour Relations Board. RNAO transfers activities related to collective bargaining to ONA. In the previous year, RNAO had supported the establishment of a central vehicle for collective bargaining for nurses, and endorsed the formulation of ONA.

1980s
Members campaign for office at the 1983 AGM in Toronto.

1983 Fulfilling its mandate to speak for professional nursing, RNAO applies for and is granted legal standing at the Grange inquiry into deaths at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.

1986 The voluntary Legal Assistance Program (LAP) is established by RNAO to assist nurses with certain legal problems which may arise in work-related circumstances.

1990s
RNAO hosts a press conference when nurse practitioner legislation receives royal assent in 1998.

1991 RNAO participates extensively in consultations - and advocates - for the Regulated Health Profession Act.

1997 - 1998 RNAO is assigned by the Ministry of Health to lead a major project on the development, implementation, and evaluation of nursing Best Practice Guidelines (BPG). Two years later, the BPG program organizes the first international BPG conference in Toronto, and launches its first four guidelines, all related to care for the elderly. The BPG program also launches the Best Practice Champions Network by inviting interested health-care organizations to nominate key individuals in their organizations to participate in the network and promote, influence and implement BPGs in their setting.

1998 RNAO and the nursing community celebrate the proclamation of nurse practitioner legislation.

2000s
RNAO's head office moved into a new building at 158 Pearl St., Toronto, in 2006.

2000 RNAO lobbies for – and welcomes – the announcement of the new chief nursing officer position created by the provincial government as part of its senior management team.

2000 The association launches Take your MPP to Work, which allows political leaders to hear first- hand from nurses.

2002 RNAO endorses the final report of the Romanow Commission, Building on Values: The Future of Health Care in Canada.

2003 RNAO reschedules its 78th AGM due to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak, which took lives of 44 Ontarians, including two nursing colleagues. RNAO delivers a formal request to Premier Ernie Eves asking Ontario to order an independent commission of inquiry under the Public Inquires Act into the SARS outbreak. RNAO leads, in collaboration with RPNAO, VIANurse, an electronic registry, maintained confidentially on RNAO's website, of RNs and RPNs who are willing to be voluntarily immediately available for deployment to an Ontario health-care facility that has been deemed emergency status. On September 29, RNAO releases SARS Unmasked: Celebrating Resilience, Exposing Vulnerability: A Report on the Nursing Experience with SARS in Ontario.

2003 RNAO launches its Best Practice Spotlight Organization (BPSO) program. This project is a three-year partnership between selected organizations and RNAO, sponsored by the Ministry of Health in support of implementation and evaluation of BPGs.

2005 In January, RNAO, with the University of Ottawa’s School of Nursing, launch the Nursing Best Practice Research Unit (NBPRU). The NBPRU, now called the Nursing Best Practice Research Centre, strives to promote nursing excellence through the study of the best strategies to promote the uptake of research results in all aspects of nursing care and the nursing work environment.

2005 RNAO receives funding from the Ministry of Health to develop a strategic plan to enhance nursing contributions to innovations in health care related to electronic applications, now known as the e- Health Project.

2005 As of this year, all Ontario RNs must have a baccalaureate degree. RNAO had formally endorsed this requirement for more than two decades, and proposed the change in legislation to Ontario political leaders.

2006 RNAO celebrates its new building on Toronto’s Pearl Street with an open house. Over 100 RNAO members, politicians and members of the media attend. The government also announces a Retention Trust Fund to be managed by RNAO, ONA, and RPNAO.

2007 The first nurse practitioner-led clinic is launched in Sudbury under the leadership of NPs Marilyn Butcher and Roberta Heale. On August 30, Ontario’s Minister of Health George Smitherman attends the official grand opening of the clinic, with RNAO’s executive director in attendance.

2009 RNAO hosts John Gerretsen, Minister of the Environment, MPPs, environmental, and health activists to celebrate the introduction of the most progressive cosmetic pesticide regulations in North America. RNAO was pivotal in helping to enact these regulations.

2010s
RNAO CEO Doris Grinspun (second from right) joins nurses in Sioux Lookout at a sit-in to protest the removal of the town's park benches, which were frequented by the local homeless population.

2010 RNAO signs a historic partnership with the Ministry of Science and Innovation Research institution in Spain to have all the clinical and healthy work environment BPGs translated into Spanish. Within two years, the BPSO program will have expanded to the United States, Chile, Australia, and Colombia. An agreement is also signed with Brazil to translate BPGs into Portuguese.

RNAO’s 86th AGM makes history: Premier Dalton McGuinty announces NPs will now be able to admit and discharge patients from in-patient hospital units. In another move to recognize the expertise of nurses, McGuinty acknowledges his government’s recent work to amend the Public Hospitals Act, so that chief nurse executives have a seat on hospital boards and quality committees. He reveals the province is also mandating all 37 public health units in Ontario appoint a chief nursing officer by 2012.

RNAO partners with Ontario to establish a central database of nursing-sensitive indicators for RNAO’s clinical BPGs. Called NQuIRE, the database will play a critical role in understanding the impact of BPGs in the association’s BPSOs.

2012 Canada’s premiers and territorial leaders decide to focus on nation-wide adoption of clinical practice guidelines as a way of delivering higher-quality health outcomes at a lower cost. The premiers choose RNAO’s guideline for diabetic foot ulcers as one of two guidelines for national implementation (the second guideline selected is developed by the Canadian Medical Association).

2012 RNAO releases a landmark report, Primary Solutions for Primary Care. The report recommends Ontario maximize and expand the roles of RNs and RPNs who work in primary care, to improve access for patients and achieve greater system cost-effectiveness. RNAO had previously launched a Primary Care/Family Practice Nurses’ Task Force to recommend adjustments to the role of RNs and RPNs in primary care settings.

2012 RNAO releases its game-changing report, Enhancing Community Care for Ontarians (ECCO), in October, which presents a model that advances a strong foundation for community care by anchoring the health system in primary care, and improving health-system integration among all sectors through a single planner and funder: the LHINs.

2013 RNAO releases a request for proposals for BPSOs tailored to the needs of long-term care homes.

2014 RNAO releases its comprehensive vision document Charting a Course for the Health
System and Nursing in Ontario.