Peter MacKinnon: Nurses warned of 'imbalances' in 'colonial' health-care system

National Post

30-07-2025

Two centuries ago, liberal theorist John Stuart Mill wrote in his classic, On Liberty, that human liberty requires freedom of conscience, thought and feeling: 'absolute freedom of opinion and sentiment on all subjects, practical or speculative, scientific, moral or theological.' His thinking has recently taken a battering, not least in our universities, but that beating is now joined by the foray of the Canadian Nurses Association into political thought.
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In its 2025 Code of Ethics, the association compels nurses to include a broad set of progressive political beliefs in their professional duties. Among these: nurses must respect the principles of social justice; advocate for the stewardship of the environment; advocate for freedom from oppression; and pursue truth and reconciliation.
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On the subject of truth and reconciliation, nurses are encouraged to 'develop awareness of the Calls to Action contained in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada report to address racism and health inequity; understand the history of and the ongoing impacts of colonial policies and nursing practices on First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples' health and well-being; and acknowledge the power imbalances that exist due to historical contexts leading to the mistrust of colonial systems such as the health-care system …'
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These are political quests which, depending on context, may be worthy of pursuit, but to establish them as professional duties for the nursing profession strays far beyond the requirements of conscientious individual patient care.
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Three observations are pertinent. First, these requirements do not have a settled meaning: nurses, like the rest of us, have different views about what constitutes social justice, environmental stewardship, reconciliation and freedom from oppression. If there is a prevailing orthodoxy in the association's leadership, it is not shared with the rest of us.
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Second, as with Lewis Carroll's Humpty Dumpty, these new duties will mean what the association says they mean at a given time. The consequence is that the association can hold its members to account for departures from current orthodoxies or the opinions of the leadership; members may not know what their transgressions are until after the fact when they are summoned for discipline.
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Third and most important, what business does the association have in establishing these professional duties? It has an undoubted interest in its members' professional knowledge and skills, their willingness to work collaboratively in the health-care system and their ability to relate to patients including those from many and diverse backgrounds. But, their interest should not extend to telling them what to think, believe and advocate.
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