Nursing’s Provincial Professional Association: How We Got from There to Here

Fall 2021

IIn this four-part historical review for the BC History of Nursing Society, Dr. Sally Thorne traces several decades of change in nursing’s professional association landscape in British Columbia and the events that ultimately led to the creation of Nurses and Nurse Practitioners of BC.

The article begins with the separation of regulatory and professional association functions following changes to nursing regulation in BC, and the efforts of nurse leaders to rebuild an independent professional voice through the RN Network and, later, the Association of Registered Nurses of BC (ARNBC).

It then follows the growing collaboration among nursing designations through the BC Coalition of Nursing Professionals, including efforts to strengthen nursing’s influence on provincial health policy and build greater alignment across the profession. That work eventually led to the creation of a single professional association representing LPNs, RNs, RPNs and NPs, with NNPBC officially launching in September 2018.

The final section explores another major transition: the move away from the Canadian Nurses Association’s former jurisdictional membership model and the changing relationship between provincial and national nursing associations.

Together, the four parts provide useful context for understanding why NNPBC exists today, how BC came to have a unified professional association for all four nursing designations, and how the role of nursing associations has continued to evolve.