RNAO continues to speak about prominent nursing and health-care issues. This is a report on our media outreach during the months of February and March.

RNAO participates in the global movement of health organizations and workers who understand that climate change is the largest public health emergency the world has ever faced, and who are pushing politicians and governments to take emergency action at the upcoming COP26 conference in Glasgow. The following is a segment from an October 15 CBC News backgrounder article on COP26 by Tesa Arcilla.

The federal government must decide within weeks whether to appeal the decision of the Federal Court and continue battling First Nation children and their families in court. RNAO is calling on the prime minister to do the right thing: Do not appeal the ruling and stop battling First Nation families!

RNAO sent a questionnaire to each of the major political parties running candidates for their input on RNAO’s 11 recommendations in our policy platform. We received responses from each of the four major parties: the Liberal Party of Canada, the Conservative Party of Canada, the New Democratic Party, and the Green Party of Canada. You can read the responses under each of the four areas of our platform. We invite you to go through each topic area so you can inform yourself.

Election Day is one week away, and advanced polls are already open. Canadians go to the polls on Monday, Sept. 20. Voting is a privilege and RNAO has consistently highlighted the importance of exercising one’s right to vote.

With a federal election happening on Sept. 20, 2021, the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) calls on Canadians to vote for health. RNAO’s policy platform for this election, released today, asks voters to choose health when they head to the polls.

The Ontario government released on Wednesday the Fall 2020 Budget. RNAO participated in the “lockdown” prior to the release and has subsequently been heavily involved with the media coverage of the budget and its ramifications. As you can see below, the budget received low scores from RNAO.

RNAO continues to speak out in the media about issues related to COVID-19 and our calls to the Ontario and federal governments for action regarding the alarming rise in the pandemic wave. This month, we focused primarily on two key issues: tightening restrictions in regional hotspots to slow the spread of the virus, and addressing the renewed and predictable crisis in long-term care (an issue we’ve been pushing for months – and years!). The RNAO COVID-19 press room has links to 42 media hits so far in the month of October.

Wednesday’s federal Throne Speech was an important policy moment in Canada. Please see below RNAO’s press release issued after the Speech. RNAO was successful in achieving two major asks in our Vision for A Just Recovery for All: 1) the federal government will work with the provinces and territories to set National Standards for Long-Term Care (LTC) so that seniors get the best support possible, with funding attached to those standards, and 2) strengthening the National Housing Strategy announced in 2017 by increasing investments to rapid housing in the short term, and partnering with not-for-profits and co-ops in the mid- to long-term. The commitment is to end chronic homelessness.