The national office of the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN) is located in what is currently known as Ottawa, the unceded territory of the Algonquin people. Humans have been living along the watershed of the Kichi Sìbì, or the Ottawa River, for over 8,000 years. Kichi Sìbì, meaning “the great river,” was a primary transportation route and fishing site for the Algonquin people, who have been sharing knowledge and medicine and practising healing on these lands and waters for thousands of years. Currently, the Ottawa area is part of a land claim being negotiated between the federal government, the provincial government, and the Algonquins of Ontario, which is composed of 10 Algonquin communities.

As a national organization, CASN operates across the land currently called Canada. From this land, First Nations, Métis, and Inuit have derived and developed deep and varied knowledge and medicinal systems. We recognize that the systemic racism and colonialism embedded in Western academia has led nursing education to largely discount and exclude Traditional Knowledge, land-based learning, oral traditions, and lived experiences from consideration as valid and empirical ways of knowing, teaching, and learning. As an organization, CASN strives to enable all knowledges and experiences to inform the advancement of nursing education.

CASN invites health care professionals and institutions to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action 18 through 24 in their workplaces and practices. Visit nctr.ca to read the Calls to Action.

For general inquiries, please contact inquire@casn.ca.