May 12, 2026
The Toronto Star
By Nadine Wathen and Susan Jack, Contributors
Nadine Wathen is a professor in the Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing at Western University. Susan Jack is a professor in McMaster University’s School of Nursing.
Public appreciation for nurses is everywhere as Canada marks Nursing Week this week and the world celebrates International Nurses Day on Tuesday. There are social media tributes, coffee discounts and heartfelt applause. But praise, however sincere, cannot substitute for protection.
If we want a functioning health-care system, we must confront a hard truth: nurses are being harmed by the very systems they sustain.
This year’s Nursing Week theme is “The Power of Nurses to Transform Health.” But how can nurses transform health if they themselves are unwell?
In Ontario, the warning signs are impossible to ignore. Hospitals are forecasting widespread deficits. Beds are closing. Wait times are growing longer.
Nurses — the backbone of care across settings, from public health to emergency departments — are leaving in alarming numbers. The province could lose more than 7,000 nurses by 2027—28, deepening shortages that already push hospitals beyond safe operating capacity. Similar patterns are unfolding across Canada.
This is not merely a workforce issue. It is a systems failure with human consequences.
Read more at theStar.com (Paywall)
