$4.2 million investment will accelerate nursing programs and create new education seats

June 05, 2025, TORONTO — The Ontario government is investing over $4.2 million to expand nursing education across the province. These investments will improve access to care by ensuring more nurses are trained and ready to work in communities across Ontario.

“By investing in education and accelerating training for nurses, our government is protecting Ontario and building on our progress to grow our nursing workforce for years to come,” said Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “These investments will help ensure families can connect to the care they need no matter where they live, while also supporting the next generation of health-care professionals.”

The government is investing $2 million to support the launch of an accelerated registered nursing (RN) degree program at four post-secondary institutions to allow students to complete their undergraduate program within three to three-and-a-half years, instead of four years, enabling nurses to enter the workforce sooner. Conestoga College (Kitchener), St. Lawrence College (Kingston), Western University (London) and �첥��Ƶ (Toronto) will receive up to $500,000 to support the development and implementation of the accelerated nursing program, beginning in the 2025–26 and 2026–27 academic years.

In addition, Ontario is investing $750,000 to support the inclusion of RN prescribing education into the undergraduate nursing curriculum at Georgian College (Barrie), Humber Polytechnic (Toronto) and the University of Windsor, enabling nurses to play a greater role in patient care by prescribing medication. This will make Ontario the first jurisdiction in Canada to include RN prescribing in undergraduate programs.

“Ontario’s world-class colleges and universities are training the health-care workforce of today, and tomorrow,” said Nolan Quinn, Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security. “This critical investment will equip our province’s nursing students with the skills and education they need to get into the health-care workforce at a quicker rate and deliver excellent care in communities across the province.”

Finally, to support access to health care in northern and rural Ontario, the province is investing nearly $1.5 million to expand the capacity for nursing programs at Confederation College in Thunder Bay and Cambrian College in Sudbury. This funding will help increase enrolment and create new clinical placement opportunities by adding 50 new registered practical nursing seats at Confederation College and 17 at Cambrian College.

Through , the Ontario government continues to take bold and decisive action to grow the province’s highly skilled health-care workforce and ensure people and their families have access to high-quality care closer to home for generations to come.

Quick Facts

• The government is investing $56.8 million over the next three years to support an enrolment increase of nursing spaces at publicly assisted colleges and universities by over 2,200 registered and registered practical nurses and nurse practitioners. In addition, this funding will support continued investments in innovative, flexible, online nursing pathways.
• Since 2018, Ontario has seen a record-breaking number of new health-care professionals join the workforce, adding nearly 100,000 new nurses with another 30,000 nurses currently studying at Ontario colleges and universities.
• On December 4, 2023, the Nursing Act, 1991 was amended to allow RNs in Ontario to prescribe specific medications and to communicate a diagnosis for the purpose of prescribing.
• Since , 671 registered nurses have completed the training and are authorized to prescribe.
• Ontario is investing $743 million over three years to continue to address immediate health-care staffing needs, as well as to grow the workforce for years to come.
  

Media contacts:

Ema Popovic
Minister Jones’ Office
ema.popovic@ontario.ca

Media Relations
Communications Branch
media.moh@ontario.ca

Reposted from the Government of Ontario newsroom. .

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The European Space Agency's (ESA) Hera mission blasted off on Monday, beginning a two-year voyage to a double asteroid system beyond the orbit of Mars. The mission is a follow-up to NASA's successful Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, which impacted the asteroid Dimorphos in September 2022. The goal of that mission was to demonstrate the ability to change the orbit of an asteroid. Both DART and Hera are part of the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA). Professor Mike Daly, a co-investigator on DART, says . "We really are the first generation that have the knowledge and the technologies that could prevent what could be a pretty disastrous outcome on Earth," Daly tells CBC.

Professor William Colgan speaks to CBC about a photography exhibition highlighting the effects of climate change in Antarctica on display at Berenson Fine Art gallery in Toronto. "We really need to reduce carbon emissions. That is the number one goal in keeping Antarctica the way it should be, which is in ," says Colgan.

Professor Claire Mallette talks to Medscape Medical News about the ramifications of Canada's nursing shortage. Nursing had more job vacancies in the first quarter of 2023 than any other occupation. The for the increase in vacancies were stress or burnout, concerns about mental health and well-being, and lack of job satisfaction.

Professor Andrea O’Reilly weighs in on Canada’s fertility rate, which has reached an all-time low. “I’m only concerned that we’re not maybe having the necessary conversations about what that stat means,” says O'Reilly. ",” she continues, “and I think women are having fewer children because of the state of the world, that it is just so challenging, expensive, exhausting to raise children in a North American context.” O’Reilly tells NOW Toronto that a fertility rate of 1.26 is not something we need to worry about so much as it is a sign of the times. “A hundred years ago, we had families of 14, and then families of eight, then families of four, and families of two, and then families of one or none. That is a huge cultural change, and that’s happened in less than a century,” she says, adding, as with any cultural shift, we need to examine the cause.

Professor Palma Paciocco comments on the role of plea deals and how victims aren't necessarily consulted. This is in light of a case where a 13-year-old girl awoke in the middle of the night to discover her 27-year-old neighbour near her bed. "We have a very under-resourced criminal justice system relative to the number of charges that come through the door, and the reality is that . In other words, we simply cannot afford to have everybody who is charged with a crime go to trial," Paciocco tells CBC, adding that crown attorneys have "tremendous discretionary authority and power" when it comes to plea bargains.

We have a very under-resourced criminal justice system relative to the number of charges that come through the door, and the reality is that the system would collapse under its own weight if we didn't have a large percentage of criminal charges resolved by guilty plea.

Paciocco speaking to CBC

Professor Ian Stedman weighs in on British Columbia's attorney general's plan to amend provincial laws to unmask special interest groups behind anonymous lobbying campaigns. Niki Sharma hopes to introduce legislation requiring groups behind "grassroots" campaigns to declare who they are and who they are working for. Ontario and the federal government have adopted rules that require disclosure around "grassroots" campaigns, and Stedman says without unduly limiting the ability of ordinary citizens and advocacy groups to communicate concerns to government officials. "Lobbyist registration laws are not about prohibiting people from lobbying," Stedman tells CBC. "They're about making sure the lobbying that happens is publicly disclosed so members of the public and interested parties can go online and find out who is trying to influence policy and policymakers."

In an op-ed for The Conversation, Professor Thomas Klassen writes about the upcoming announcement from the federal government about its immigration plan and immigration levels for the next three years. " with immigration levels increased when the unemployment rate falls and reduced when unemployment rises. Immigration has always been thinly veiled labour market policy; that is, a way to fill jobs," writes Klassen.

Professor Sapna Sharma and postdoc researcher Joshua Culpepper write about how an increase in human activity, warming temperatures, and stormy conditions are causing more frequent blooms of potentially harmful algae in Lake Superior, the largest, coldest and arguably healthiest of the Great Lakes. "," writes Sharma and Culpepper.

The Washington Post reports on new research by Professor Sapna Sharma that suggests warming air temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns are , threatening people who rely on ice for transportation or recreation.

Professor Emeritus Nicholas C. T. Rogers discusses the origins of Halloween and how became part of the way we celebrate the holiday, in The Telegraph.

CBC Books is calling Walking & Stealing by Professor Stephen Cain one of the "." Cain is the author of six full-length collections of poetry and a dozen chapbooks. The highly anticipated Walking & Stealing is a collection of poems about baseball, Toronto and immersing oneself in deep thoughts.

To see: Artist and PhD student Shannon Garden-Smith created an interactive installation for this year’s Nuit Blanche using a solitary material: sand. The 2,500 square-foot floor installation used vibrantly dyed sand to form marbled patterns from the humble material. During the all-night event, attendees were invited to walk through her exhibit, disrupting the sand patterns and muddying colours. "Sand is so everyday; it’s kind of this thing that is super mundane in a lot of ways and so often represented as boring," Garden-Smith tells TorontoToday. "My hope for the project is that people are reacquainted with the magic of this thing that is everywhere, but also ." "Snail-work (for the lake)" is part of the festival's extended program and will remain open to the public at 125 Queens Quay E from 12 to 7 p.m. daily until Sunday, Oct. 13.

Do you have a new research study or an academic achievement to share? Contact media@yorku.ca with details. For daily York in the News highlights, follow on X.

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TORONTO, Nov. 23, 2021 — The Ontario government is providing new pathways for nursing education with the launch of �첥��Ƶ’s new stand-alone four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.

Details were shared today by Jill Dunlop, Minister of Colleges and Universities who was joined by Rhonda Lenton, President & Vice-Chancellor of �첥��Ƶ.

“I’m here today to highlight an important milestone for postsecondary education in Ontario. �첥��Ƶ’s stand-alone Bachelor of Science in Nursing will allow students to complete their nursing degree entirely at �첥��Ƶ,” said Minister Dunlop. “In Ontario, both colleges and universities are now able to offer stand-alone nursing degrees, increasing choices and reducing barriers to high-quality, local education for Ontario’s students."

The new program builds on Ontario’s allowing both publicly-assisted colleges and universities to offer a baccalaureate degree in nursing to increase opportunities for students to access a high-quality education. This includes stand-alone Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs offered at universities, colleges, and through collaborative university-college partnerships. York previously partnered with two colleges in offering this program; now each of the three institutions offer this degree independently, providing more choice and opportunity to students.

“Ontario’s nurses go above and beyond to provide exceptional care to patients, and we are grateful for their continued efforts throughout the pandemic,” said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “�첥��Ƶ’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree program will provide students with more choices for nursing education, further strengthening our health care workforce as more Ontarians pursue this important career.”

�첥��Ƶ will welcome the first cohort of new nursing students starting in September 2022.

“�첥��Ƶ’s School of Nursing has become one of the largest and most comprehensive in Canada, and the new stand-alone Nursing degree will reduce barriers and create more opportunities for students to respond to the needs of the culturally diverse communities we serve, reduce health inequalities, and explore social, economic and cultural determinants of health and healthcare outcomes,” said Rhonda Lenton, President and Vice-Chancellor, �첥��Ƶ. “This is another important milestone in demonstrating �첥��Ƶ’s leadership and expertise in health education and health governance.”

As part of the government’s recently announced to increase enrolment in nursing education programs in publicly-assisted colleges and universities across the province, the province is also providing up to $385,000 to help increase enrolment in nursing education programs at �첥��Ƶ, supporting the education of 42 additional Bachelor of Science in Nursing students.

QUICK FACTS

• To become a registered nurse in Ontario (and be registered with the College of Nurses of Ontario), individuals must obtain a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.
• Investing in nursing education supports the government's that was launched last year. At the centre of this plan, the hours of direct care for residents in long-term care will be increasing to an average of four hours per day over four years. To implement this initiative, the government will be making overall investments of $1.9 billion annually by 2024-2025.
• To strengthen the health and long-term care workforce, , beginning in 2021–22, to add over 5,000 new and upskilled registered nurses and registered practical nurses as well as 8,000 personal support workers. In addition, Ontario is investing $57.6 million, beginning in 2022–23, to hire 225 nurse practitioners in the long-term care sector.

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TORONTO, December 13, 2016 – With all the shopping, meal planning and dinner planning, many families may feel excited about the holidays, but also overwhelmed. For individuals living with Alzheimer’s or dementia, visiting family can make this time challenging and bittersweet, and for their loved ones, the stress of caregiving responsibilities layered with holiday traditions can also take a toll.

Faculty of Health Professor in �첥��Ƶ’s School of Nursing has done research on transforming and growing with loss, with including with those families living with dementia. She is available for media interviews to discuss how families can prepare for the holidays and gatherings including:

• coping with loss during the holidays
• tips for managing holiday family gatherings with family members who may have dementia, Alzheimer's
• managing expectations
• factors to consider when planning activities during the holidays

is known for championing new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-discipline programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. York students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world’s most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. �첥��Ƶ is an internationally recognized research university – our 11 faculties and 26 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, York is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 295,000 alumni. �첥��Ƶ's fully bilingual Glendon campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

Media Contact:
Anjum Nayyar, �첥��Ƶ Media Relations, 416-736-2100 ext. 44543/anayyar@yorku.ca

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