National Nursing Week - May 6-12, 2013

Every year, National Nursing Week celebrates Canada's nurses for the significant role they play in the health of Canadians. This year's theme, Nursing-A Leading Force for Change, celebrates the contribution of nurses at the forefront of improving the quality of health care.

Whenever or wherever we need health care, nurses are often our first point of contact. Nurses are the country's largest group of health professionals: they are found in busy emergency rooms, at work, at school, in a patient's home, in palliative care hospices, in prevention clinics, in rural and remote First Nations and Inuit communities, or giving advice online or over the phone.

Through their dedication, nurses ensure Canadians of all ages, at every stage of life, receive the best care possible. Nurses have special expertise and knowledge and should be commended for the professional, high-quality health care they provide to their patients.

Our Government recognizes the essential role nurses play in our health system, and we invest in activities designed to support innovative health care policy and programs that will lead to quality health care as well as a stable and optimal health workforce.

We want to express our appreciation for the dedication of nurses as professionals and as advocates of health promotion, education and change. Promoting health system innovation continues to be a priority for our Government and we are committed to working with provinces and territories, health system partners and stakeholders to improve the quality, access and   overall efficiency and effectiveness of the health care system.

I invite all Canadians to join me in celebrating the nursing profession and to thank them for their commitment to making Canada among the countries with the healthiest people in the world.

Leona Aglukkaq
Minister of Health
Government of Canada