WeRPN Raises Serious Concerns: Alberta's Bill 13 Undermines Essential Nursing Competence and Threatens Patient Safety Across Canada

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Dec. 12, 2025 /CNW/ - The Registered Practical Nurses Association of Ontario (WeRPN) is raising serious concerns about the passage of Alberta's Bill 13, the Regulated Professions Neutrality Act. WeRPN believes this legislation will compromise the fundamental ability of nursing regulators to protect the public by ensuring that nurses meet the highest standards of competence and clinical practice.

WeRPN is deeply troubled by legislation's restrictive definition of professional competence, which limits the ability of regulatory bodies to mandate education and training in areas such as anti-racism, cultural safety, unconscious bias, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). This education provides key competencies that are essential for the delivery of safe, culturally competent care that meets the needs of patients in Alberta and across the country.

Patient-Centered Care Requires Essential Equity Education

For Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs), providing comprehensive, patient-centered care requires a deep understanding of the unique social and cultural factors that influence a patient's health and experience within the healthcare system.

By preventing regulators from mandating education on cultural safety and anti-racism, Bill 13 risks leaving nurses unprepared to recognize and mitigate the systemic biases that contribute to health disparities and negative outcomes for marginalized populations, including Indigenous Peoples, Black and racialized communities, and 2SLGBTQI+ individuals. This knowledge gap is a direct patient safety risk.

While the immediate and profound impact of restricting education on cultural safety, anti-racism, and DEI falls on marginalized populations, the core principles of this specialized education--individualized assessment and context-specific care--are essential for every patient interaction.

When nursing regulators are restricted from ensuring mandatory training that emphasizes:

• A deep assessment of patient context (social, cultural, personal history).
• Recognition of systemic and personal biases that can cloud judgment.
• The need to adapt care to specific individual circumstances.

The resulting standardized, 'one-size-fits-all' approach risks creating a level of care that is less responsive and potentially irrelevant to the personal situations of all patients. By weakening the regulator's ability to mandate the foundational knowledge required for truly personalized and responsive care, the overall quality and relevance of nursing practice are compromised for every single citizen.

The legislation also severely limits the authority of nursing regulators to address conduct outside the professional setting that is clearly discriminatory or harmful. This undermines the public confidence required for effective nursing practice and compromises the profession's ethical obligation to promote justice and provide care, free from discrimination.

While Bill 13 is currently specific to Alberta, WeRPN is concerned about the precedent this legislation sets for professional regulation across Canada. Uniformity in high standards for safety, competence, and accountability is paramount to Canadian healthcare. Any measure that weakens the tools regulators use to enforce ethical practice and equity signals a retreat from the shared national commitment to Truth and Reconciliation and inclusive, evidence-based care. Additionally, as nurses choose to move across the country, other provinces will need to grapple with incoming nurses who lack what we consider to be essential competencies for safe and ethical practice.

"Every patient deserves the best quality of care--care that is responsive to their unique background, personal experience, and needs," said Dianne Martin, CEO, WeRPN. "The education required to provide culturally safe and non-discriminatory care is fundamental to that quality. By undermining the regulator's ability to enforce these standards, this legislation compromises the ability of nurses to deliver the personalized, culturally competent care that the public expects and deserves."

WeRPN stands alongside our nursing colleagues in Alberta and across Canada in urging the Premier of Alberta to rescind this harmful legislation.

SOURCE Registered Practical Nurses Association of Ontario (WeRPN)

MEDIA CONTACT: Tiff Blair, Chief Strategy Officer, WeRPN, [email protected], 647-267-5467