Ontario Nurses' Association Demands Answers from the Ford Government as St. Joseph's Health Care London Cuts Dozens of Registered Nurses

LONDON, ON, Oct. 16, 2026 /CNW/ -- The Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) is demanding answers from the Ford government and Health Minister Sylvia Jones following the announcement that St. Joseph's Health Care London is cutting more than 120 registered nurses (RNs).

"This morning I spoke directly to Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones, laying out the sobering facts about the public safety and economic consequences of cutting registered nurses and the critical life-saving care they provide," said ONA Provincial President Erin Ariss, RN. Ariss is part of a delegation of nurses' union leaders, part of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU), who are in Winnipeg this week as the country's health ministers meet.

Ariss highlighted the St. Joseph's Health Care London cuts, and the escalating staffing cuts across the province – including hundreds of RN cuts at London Health Sciences Centre – hurting whole communities.  She notes that the cuts to those working in Finch Family Mental Health Care (a part of St. Joseph's Health Care, London) is a reduction in RN care for the city's most vulnerable and often marginalized population. RNs working out of Finch Family Mental Health Care provide both inpatient and outpatient community support to hundreds of people.

"There is no justification for this government starving our hospitals of adequate funding, knowing Ontario nurses will lose their livelihoods and communities will pay a heavy price for RN cuts," says Ariss. "The latest cuts in London leave patient safety severely compromised as the skills RNs possess are vital to identify when a patient needs life-saving measures, and to act when time is of the essence."

ONA has made it clear to Minister Jones that her government's actions are compromising the health and lives of the very people they are purported to serve.

"The St. Joseph's Health Care cuts will directly hurt the people of London," she says. "Hospital leaders say these cuts are just the beginning. We cannot continue to allow this government to knowingly risk the health and even lives of our patients, to decimate public health care and hurt local economies. It's time to demand better."

ONA is the union representing 68,000 nurses and health-care professionals, as well as 18,000 nursing student affiliates, providing care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, clinics and industry.

SOURCE Ontario Nurses' Association

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