Canada’s unions tell health ministers: violence is not part of the job

Silas: Together, we can prevent violence against health care workers

October 17, 2025 (Calgary, AB) – Putting an end to violence against health care workers was the focus of discussions between Canada’s health ministers and nurse union leaders at today’s policy breakfast meeting hosted by the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU).

“Preventing violence in health care workplaces is not only possible but also critically important to retaining the very nurses and health care professionals we all rely on,” said CFNU President Linda Silas. “Violence against health care workers has dire consequences, both physical and psychological. The reality is that health workplaces with violence are unhealthy for both nurses and patients. Changing the culture of health care workplaces is absolutely necessary to ensure violence doesn’t become normalized.”

Health ministers from almost every province received CFNU’s new white paper detailing eye-opening statistics that demonstrate just how prevalent violence is in health workplaces, from growing workers’ compensation claims to shocking survey findings.

Silas was joined by health care policy expert Dr. Sioban Nelson for a presentation and Q&A session on why violence is under-reported in the health sector, and the consequences and impacts of workplace violence, including burnout and attrition. Dr. Nelson is a professor at the Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto, who researches workplace violence and professional issues in nursing.

As Silas emphasized, despite how pervasive violence is, accountability is rare. Investing in prevention and enforcement is critical to curb these high rates of violence, protect health care workers, and create healthy and safe work environments for patient care.

The CFNU is calling on provincial and territorial governments to use every tool at their disposal to end violence against health care workers, including:

• Investing in training and prevention programs for workers and designated in-house security personnel
• Mandated minimum nurse-patient ratios to reduce risks of violence exacerbated by excessive workloads
• Enforcement of the Criminal Code and occupational health and safety legislation to punish and deter violence, including penalties for negligent employers
• Installing violence prevention infrastructure, such as weapons detection systems, surveillance cameras and personal alarms for workers

“Violence should never be a part of the job. Health ministers heard directly about the dark realities of health workplace violence today, and we urge them to work with unions and employers on a multi-faceted approach to effectively tackle this growing challenge,” Silas said.

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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, media@nursesunions.ca, 613‑807‑2942.