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Across Canada, nurses are working shifts where patient assignments are dangerously high, unregulated and inconsistent from province to province. The result is a nationwide pattern of delayed care, moral distress, burnout and escalating resignations, placing both patients and the nursing workforce at risk.
The evidence is clear: legislated funded nurse‑patient ratios save lives, improve patient outcomes and keep nurses in the profession. From new graduates entering a system already in crisis to experienced nurses struggling under impossible workloads, the message is the same across every jurisdiction. Safe ratios are not optional. They are the foundation of safe, dignified, sustainable care.
Nurses in every province are calling on governments to implement enforceable nurse‑patient ratios. Not guidelines or suggestions but policy that meets evidence‑based standards. The future of nursing, and the safety of patients nationwide, depends on it.
Safe nurse‑patient ratios aren’t optional, they are essential. Ratios save lives, reduce burnout and ensure nurses can provide the quality care every patient deserves.”
Linda Silas,
President of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions
From coast to coast to coast, we acknowledge the ancestral andunceded territory of all the Inuit, Métis and First Nations Peoples that call this land home. The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions is located on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishnaabeg People. As settlers and visitors, we feel it’s important to acknowledge the importance of these lands, which we each call home. We do this to reaffirm our commitment and responsibility to improve relationships between nations, to work towards healing the wounds of colonialism and to improve our own understanding of local Indigenous Peoples and their cultures
The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) is Canada’s largest nurses’ organization, representing frontline unionized nurses and nursing students in every sector of health care – from home care and LTC to community and acute care – and advocating on key priorities to strengthen public health care across the country. We are proud to advocate for our members and promote the nursing profession on the national level, and we work tirelessly to protect the quality of health care for our patients and our universal public health care system.
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