Canadian Association of
Nurses for the Environment
Association canadienne des infirmières
et infirmiers pour l'environnement
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Canadian Association of
Nurses for the Environment
Association canadienne des infirmières
et infirmiers pour l'environnement
According to the Canadian Nurses Association (2021), advocacy involves engaging others, exercising one’s voice, and mobilizing evidence to influence policy and practice. It entails speaking out against inequity and inequality and participating directly and indirectly in political processes and acknowledging the importance of evidence, power, and politics in advancing policy options.
Advocating requires the nurse to have courage and self-efficacy and requires the nurse to act with integrity in standing up for one’s beliefs, fighting for what is right, even when confronted with opposition, in the belief that one can be an agent of change (Gottlieb, 2013). We at CANE are pleased to highlight some of our work concerning advocacy:
Our "Fossil Fuel Ads Make Us Sick" campaign launches today, with an open letter to the federal government signed by over 700,000 health professionals who all agree: it’s time to ban fossil fuel advertising.
As a voice for nurses, we have a responsibility to speak up when we think people’s health is in danger. Air pollution from fossil fuels causes between 15,000 and 34,000 premature deaths in Canada each year.
“Fossil fuels affect those who are least able to protect themselves or have a choice in protecting themselves, including those living in poverty and racialized populations who are most likely to live in areas of increased air pollution related to fossil fuels,”
- Jacqueline Avanthay Strus, CANE President
Download CANE Social Media Amplification Toolkit and share on your social media accounts to spread the word!
Through commitment to the evidence-based Nurses Drawdown actions, nurses will improve the health of individuals and communities, while also taking steps to heal the planet. Nurses from around the world are invited to join the Nurses Drawdown movement by taking personal and professional action in five key areas: Energy, Food, Gender equity, Mobility, and Nature-based solutions.
Accelerating environmental change has disrupted the global conditions on which we humans have depended for thousands of years.
Climate change, pollution, loss of biodiversity, land degradation, industrial agriculture, and the resulting changes to fundamental elements such as our diet are causing a heavy burden of disease in all dimensions of human physical, mental and spiritual health.
Nurses have been called to develop their capacity in helping people adapt to the changes resulting from planetary disruption. In order to respond adequately to this call, nurses need a robust educational foundation, understanding the links between environmental disruption and human health.
This section provides tools for nurses to integrate this knowledge.
Poster Presentation by Jacqueline (Jack) Avanthay Strus (CANE President) and Fiona Hanley (CANE Quebec representative) at
SIDIIEF ( Le Secrétariat international des infirmières et infirmiers de l’espace francophone) conference in Ottawa, October 19, 2022
Climate change has profound implications for health and healthcare. But healthcare professional trainees often have little to no exposure to climate and sustainability topics during their training. This series will introduce students to the impact of climate change on health and health equity, what this means for healthcare, and how we can advocate and promote a more resilient and sustainable health system in a low carbon world. The speaker series consists of 6 sessions in total, each about 1 hour in length.
Organized in partnership by UofT Green Meds, CASCADES, the Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment (CANE), the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), and the Canadian Federation of Medical Students (CFMS) Health and Environment Adaptive Response Task force (HEART).
December 2021
March 2022
July 2022
October 2022
Eight CANE-ACIIE members have recorded videos outlining their work related to Planetary Health for National Nursing Week.
This video was compiled by Board members of CANE – the Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment in honour of Earth Day and features A pledge for planetary health to unite health professionals in the Anthropocene .
This pledge is from the following source: Wabnitz, K. J., Gabrysch, S., Guinto, R., Haines, A., Herrmann, M., Howard, C., Potter, T., Prescott, S. L., & Redvers, N. (2020). A pledge for planetary health to unite health professionals in the Anthropocene. Lancet (London, England), 396(10261), 1471–1473.
Canadian Nurses Association. (2021). Policy and Advocacy. https://www.cna-aiic.ca/en/policy-advocacy
Gottlieb, L. (2013). Strengths-based nursing care: health and healing for person and family. New York: Springer Pub. Co
