The Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN)’s mission is, and has always been, to promote high-quality nursing education in Canada, and to advance nursing knowledge in the interest of healthier Canadians. That mission was the vision of the small band of university nurse educators who met for 3 days at the Windsor Hotel in Montreal in June of 1942 to “take counsel” with one another. They went home having formed the Provisional Council of University Schools and Departments of Nursing (PCUSDN), which would become the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing, as we know it today.

Thanks to the vision and passion of the 11 founding schools of CASN, the association has grown to represent 95 schools, and continues to push forward the mandate they set – to advance nursing knowledge and nursing education in the interest of healthier Canadians.

The Evolution of CASN

coming soon

Advancing Nursing Education for over 80 years

Thanks to the vision and passion of the 11 founding schools of CASN, the association has grown to represent 95 schools, and continues to push forward in a variety of ways the mandate they set – to advance nursing knowledge and nursing education in the interest of healthier Canadians .

There have been new directions within this original mandate as society and health care evolve, including:

• Promoting research and scholarship
• Responding to the TRC
• Promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion
• Addressing the opioid crisis [ououd.casn.ca]
• Addressing climate change [vbd.casn.ca]
• Responding to the COVID-19 health crisis
• Promoting community and population-based health care