Toronto nurses join In Labour Day parade

Front-line registered nurses from the Toronto area will join hundreds of union members marching in the city's Labour Day parade this long weekend. The nurses - members of the Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) - will join other health-care union workers in the celebrations.

"Labour Day and its messages of solidarity has a deeper meaning than ever for me this year," says ONA President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN. "The weekend marks the symbolic end to summer, return to school, and this year, the possibility of the second wave of H1N1. While no one can predict how severe the pandemic will become, we can count on a large increase in the number of flu patients needing care.

"For those of us in the health-care sector," Haslam-Stroud says, "this means we will have to be vigilant in ensuring that nurses and front-line health-care providers are protected and for ONA to advocate for patient safety. We remain under tremendous pressure as staffing in hospitals and other facilities continues to be inadequate. And the stress on nurses in every sector - from hospitals to public health, home care and long-term care - will increase as the pandemic unfolds."

ONA Region 3 members will meet at Dundas and University and march along Queen Street West and into the Dufferin Gates of the Canadian National Exhibition beginning at 9:30 am Monday morning. Families of the nurses will join them in the parade.