What We Do

CANE-AIIE members are part of a committed group, dedicated to taking a stand on planetary health issues
that threaten the health and well-being of Canadians and the planet as a whole.

Advocacy

CANE-AIIE is dedicated to informing and advocating for planetary health balance and stability across the nation.
We believe that nurses should be at the forefront of this advocacy.
To that end, we present current key issues that require awareness, advocacy and action.
Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment

Why Advocacy?

 

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:

Current Campaigns

Fossil Fuel Ads Make Us Sick

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!

Take Action by signing your name to the Open Letter

Take Action
EcoCentric Interview with Helen Boyd for Fossil Fuel Ad-free Campaign

More Media on the Fossil Fuel Ad-free Campaign

Nurses Climate Challenge

CANE supports the Nurses Climate Challenge, a collaboration between Health Care Without Harm and the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments. It is the first national campaign aiming to leverage the unique and trusted voice of nurses to motivate the health care sector to action.

Nurses Drawdown

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.

Nurses Drawdown Campaign

Unnatural Gas

Unnatural Gas, a public awareness campaign by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment
and Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment about the climate and health damage from natural gas
Earth Day Healthy Recovery

Earth Day Healthy Recovery Letter to Prime Minister Trudeau

Statement of Solidarity for the Wet’suwet’en People

Statement of Solidarity for the Wet’suwet’en People

Education

CANE-AIIE is dedicated to promoting the education of nurses and students in the context of planetary health.
Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment

Why Education?

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

Nursing and Climate Driven Vector-Borne Disease

CASN Presents Nursing and Climate Driven Vector-Borne Disease

Beyond the Slogans: Understanding the ecological consciousness of nurses to advance ecohealth knowledge and practice

An Education Program for Family Nurses about Environmental Health

Climate, Health, and Healthcare:
A Speaker Series for Health Professional Learners

About the series:

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.

Co-Sponsors

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).

Press Room

Keep abreast of Upcoming Events,
News items, Updates and Action Alerts.

CANE Quarterly Newsletter

CANE Newsletter V1 N1

Newsletter V1 N1

December 2021

CANE-NewsV1N2

Newsletter V1 N2

March 2022

V 1 N4

Newsletter V1 N4

October 2022

CANE-ACIIE Newsletter December 2022

Newsletter V2 N1

December 2022

CANE Newsletter V2 N2

Newsletter V2 N2

April 2023

Upcoming Events

Events Calendar

Find Out about Upcoming Planetary Health and Environmental Events
including Webinars, Conferences, Meetings, and other Gatherings

CANE-ACIIE National Nursing Week 2023 Videos

Eight CANE-ACIIE members have recorded videos outlining their work related to Planetary Health for National Nursing Week.

National Nursing Week 2022: #WeAnswerTheCall for Environmental Sustainability

Please join CANE-ACIIE in taking the pledge for Planetary Health today on Earth Day!

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.

 

 

News and Updates

References

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