Silas: We know that if nurses are respected, protected and engaged professionally and personally, they will stay.
August 26, 2025 (Ottawa, ON) – A new report from the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) outlines the importance of protecting, engaging and respecting the current and future nursing workforce to improve retention and make nursing in Canada sustainable for the future.
CFNU president Linda Silas emphasized that we are in a new era of challenges for the nursing profession, and that the safety of nurses is paramount in addressing these challenges.
“We have seen the consequences of ignoring early warnings. If past recommendations had been implemented, we might not be in the staffing crisis we now face. Nurses have shared, in detail, the reality of their working lives. It is time to act,” said Silas. “Canada needs every nurse we have – and more. We need them to feel safe, respected and fulfilled, so that they choose to stay in the profession until they are ready to retire.”
Released today, Today’s Nurse: What contemporary Canadian nurses need to stay in the workforce for the longevity of their career includes detailed recommendations guided by three key principles: protect nurses, engage nurses and respect nurses. The report was authored by Dr. Kim McMillan, RN, PhD, CHPCN(C), an Associate Professor of Nursing at the University of Ottawa.
In its aim to comprehensively understand what nurses in Canada need to stay in the workforce, Today’s Nurse used qualitative focus group methodology with nurses’ voices at the centre. Across nine provinces, 22 focus groups were conducted both in-person and virtually. The sessions were guided by one broad question: “What do you need to stay in the nursing workforce, in Canada, until you wish to retire?”
“Every focus group quickly evolved into discussions of nurses’ moral distress and moral injury,” said Dr. Kim McMillan. “I believe that when we attend to nurses’ central needs – to be protected, to be engaged and to be respected – we will also attend to nurses’ needs for morally congruent nursing care, care that is provided in ways that align with nurses’ deeply held moral commitments.”
In CFNU’s 2025 member survey, nurses pointed to enforced minimum nurse-patient ratios as the top influence that would keep them in their jobs. This solution would address nurse and patient safety while ensuring nurses have the time and support needed to give patients the best quality of care.
“We must urgently re-evaluate and invest in the needs of today’s nurses to ensure nursing is a job of choice in our communities and there are enough nurses to meet population needs,” said Silas. “This means listening to nurses and making the changes they care about and that will help keep them in the profession.”
The full report and recommendations can be found here.
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The CFNU is Canada’s largest nurses’ organization, representing 250,000 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.
For more information, please contact Adella Khan, CFNU Communications, at media@nursesunions.ca or 613-807-2942.