Canada’s nurses are shocked and disappointed by the April 11 decision of Justice Currie of the Saskatchewan Court of the Queen’s Bench to uphold the verdict of the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses’ Association (SRNA) Discipline Committee concerning the Carolyn Strom case.
Strom was fined $26,000 and found guilty of professional misconduct by SRNA, the regulatory body for nurses in the province, simply for commenting on Facebook about the quality of her grandfather’s end-of-life care.
Nurses across the country are concerned that this decision will contribute to the silencing of nurses as individuals and health professionals. Advocating for our loved ones and our communities is a basic right all Canadians should have, including Canada’s nurses.
Regulatory bodies such as the SRNA must not be empowered to prevent nurses from speaking up as individuals. Such a precedent represents a slippery slope that could prevent nurses from advocating on basic issues such as the lack of care for the homeless, insufficient funding and services for Indigenous children, and promoting much needed harm reduction programs.
As a national labour organization, the CFNU is also concerned that this decision has disturbing implications for all Canadian workers by contributing to the erosion of our individual right to freedom of expression outside of our workplaces.
Canada’s nurses #StandWithStrom, and pledge to support the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses in this fight, all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada if necessary.
The CFNU is committed to defending the rights of nurses and all Canadian workers.
Read the statement on the Strom decision by the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN).
