“We are living through one pandemic, we don’t want to start another pandemic of violence."

They say the move planned by the College of Nurses of Ontario would make the scope of practice for registered nurses and registered practical nurses virtually identical.

The College of Nurses of Ontario, which oversees about 188,000 members, offered few details about what it had previously referred to only as a "cybersecurity incident" it discovered Sept. 8.

The CEO of the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario has made the request in a letter to the province's chief medical officer of health.

The demonstration on Thursday was just the first in a number taking place across the province.

Ontario's health-care system must shift its focus away from hospitals and towards strong community care for everyone if it hopes to stave off future crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization representing the province's nurses said Tuesday as it called for urgent, sweeping reforms.

Before a person experiencing symptoms should go to an assessment centre, the government and Telehealth are asking those people to either call in or use the new online self-assessment tool.

The Ontario government is asking the public to weigh in on the idea of allowing nurses to prescribe some medications including contraceptives, immunizations and smoking cessation drugs.

The Ontario Nurses' Association says in a statement that more than 80 nurse practitioners, public health nurses and registered practical nurses voted to accept the new contract Wednesday afternoon.

The union representing Ontario's nurses says it walked away from the bargaining table on Saturday.