Claire Betker is the Scientific Director at the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Claire is a past president of the Canadian Nurses Association and of the Community Health Nurses of Canada. Her PhD work focused on the capacity for public health leadership to advance health equity, a knowledge base that informs her contributions to the NCCDH, the public health field, and community.

Myriam Breau is a nursing professor at Université de Moncton (NB) and a PhD candidate at the University of New Brunswick. With 20 years’ experience as a registered nurse in critical care, Myriam has a vast experience in health care issues. She is dedicated to researching nurse staffing and its effects on patients in hospital settings. Her work aims to identify and mitigate the negative impacts of inadequate staffing on quality of care, patient safety, and nurse outcomes. Through her expertise and commitment, Myriam continues to advance the field of nursing while improving working conditions for nurses and the quality of patient care.

Alongside her research, Myriam is an exceptional teacher, recognized by her students for her inspiring teaching approach. She excels at making complex concepts accessible and interesting, fostering an interactive and stimulating learning environment. Her dedication to teaching and training the next generation of registered nurses has earned her the Faculty Professor of the Year by her students. 

Jodi Brennan, RN, MN, is the Chair of the School of Health and Humans Services at Aurora College, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, overseeing various certificate, diploma, and degree partnership programs. She has made the North her home for almost 30 years and has been involved in many nursing/health education program initiatives. Her research interests have been in evaluation, promoting leadership competencies, and recruitment of youth to the Northern workforce. 

Dr. Shannon Dowdall-Smith currently serves as the Program Coordinator and Professor for the Honours Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program at Cambrian College’s School of Nursing. In this role, she coordinates the degree program, assists with recruitment and curriculum review, teaches various courses, and serves as Chair of the Nursing EDIAI Committee and member of the College’s Research Ethics Committee. Shannon earned a PhD in Nursing from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in 2007, an MSN in Nursing Adult Health and Nursing Education from the University of Texas-Pan American in 1999, and a BScN in Nursing from Laurentian University in 1995. Shannon has also held the position of Assistant Professor for the BSN program at the University of Texas-Pan American. Her current scholarship includes open access resources for clinical debrief, simulation curriculum for community and mental health placements, and screening curriculum for equity, diversity, inclusion, and Indigeneity.

Susan Duncan, RN, PhD, is Professor and Director of the School of Nursing at the University of Victoria. She has taught nursing practice and theory in undergraduate and graduate programs, and held senior academic leadership positions. Her research focuses on community health nursing, health policy, and nursing education.  She has participated as a board member on regional, provincial and national nursing and health organizations to enact progressive health and public policy.  She has published and presented several papers on the nursing profession and education, and she brings a global perspective to her work. 

Dr. Sheri L. Price is a Professor with the School of Nursing, Dalhousie University, and an Affiliate Scientist at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is a Collaborator with the Pan-Canadian Health Human Research Network (CHHRN), a Co-Investigator with the WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Workforce Planning and an Associate Research Scholar with the Healthy Populations Institute. Dr. Price’s research is focused in the areas of health services, professional socialization, interprofessional collaboration, and health care work environments. Dr. Price has led several innovative knowledge translation and dissemination projects, including the use of arts-based media to promote career choice, professional socialization, and interprofessional collaboration within nursing and the health professions.

Dr. Rani Srivastava is Dean of Nursing at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia. She also holds adjunct positions at York University, Toronto Ontario, and Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and is recognized as a Fellow Canadian Academy of Nursing (FCAN) and Fellow Transcultural Nursing Society Scholars (FTNSS). Dr. Srivastava is recognized for her leadership in cultural competence and bridging academia and practice environ­ments. She is author and editor for The Health Care Professional’s Guide to Cultural Competence (2nd edition published 2022) and has written several book chapters and articles on topics of cultural identity, religion, ethics, and family-centred care. Her scholarship focuses on cultural competence in clinical care, organizational cultural competence, and anti-racism in practice and education.

Dr. Daphney St-Germain is a full professor at Université Laval, in Nursing Faculty, in Québec City. She is also the director of the research and professional master in the graduate program. She is a registered nurse holding a doctorate in public health (2007), in health care organization option, and a researcher at Institut de réadaptation en déficience physique de Québec, a physical rehabilitation centre. She has been a panel expert member in the Knowledge Translation and Implementation Science Toolkit development for the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario and Canadian Patient Safety institute organizations. She has been the principal investigator for Canada Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) grant research developing a reflexive nurse’s portfolio focusing on patient safety competencies and Caring approach called INSÉPArable project. Dr. St-Germain obtained a certification as Patient Safety Trainer (2014) from Kingston University under the leadership of the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) and conducted significant researches and scientific publications with a strong interest in the development of the nursing profession. Since 2021, she is a member of Graduate Education Committee members who reviewing the National Nursing Education Framework and thus aiming to “influence the development of principles and guidelines for graduate nursing education and advancement in Canada” for the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing. Both in research and teaching, she is involved for years in several professional activities related to continuous improvement of nursing quality of care, patient safety, humanization of care, and innovative processes in health care system. Moreover, she is writing a book that supports these topics, applied in both clinical and management, and will be launched in 2023.

Dr. Jean-Daniel Jacob is the Executive Director for the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN). He oversees the Association’s departments and activities, leading our team to advance our mission while ensuring the provision of optimal service to our members. He works closely with the CASN board of directors to ensure that they are well equipped to meet the organization’s goals. 

Dr. Jacob is a Full Professor at the School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa. Dr. Jacob holds a doctoral degree in nursing from the University of Ottawa and has extensive experience as an educator and administrator, having taught at both the baccalaureate and graduate levels, and serving as Director of the school of nursing for 3 years. During his time as Director, Dr. Jacob had a positive influence on the school of nursing, particularly in advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion within the school. His scholarship interests primarily focus on psychiatric nursing and forensic psychiatry. His substantial background in nursing education, research, and leadership at the university is complemented by his non-profit leadership experience as former Chair of Droits-Accès Outaouais’ Board (2017–2023), making Dr. Jacob ideally suited to direct operations at the CASN national office.

Purpose:

CNEI’s intellectual community is based on principles of honesty, transparency, and integrity. To protect its commitment to quality nursing education, all courses are subject to academic integrity.

Policy:

1. Course participants will submit only their own original work.
2. If a portion of another’s work is included, that portion is duly credited to the creator.
3. Any participant suspected of academic dishonesty will have the work assessed by CASN to determine an appropriate course of action.

Purpose:

CNEI is committed to the fundamental principles of freedom of expression, equality, and human dignity.

Policy:

1. No participant shall be discriminated against on the basis of race, colour, religion (creed), sex, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations.
2. No participant shall be discriminated against for reasons of required and approved accommodation.

Purpose:

Special accommodation is made available to participants in order to maintain fairness within its offerings.

Policy:

1. CNEI will provide reasonable accommodation to its participants.
2. It is the responsibility of the participant to notify CNEI of the required accommodation.
3. Requests for accommodation should be made prior to the start of the course.
4. A health professional must confirm the need for accommodation.
5. Special accommodation requests shall be made in writing, and include an explanation the reason for accommodation, a confirmation of why the accommodation is required, and the details of the participant’s specific needs.
6. Accommodations related to language requirements will be met on a case-by-case basis.

Purpose:

CNEI respects the successes of its participants. To do so, it must maintain a high standard of success.

Certificates of completion will be provided for educational activities where there are specific completion requirements (e.g., attendance, participation, assignments, exam).

Policy:

1. Any participant not meeting the passing standard as indicated in the course syllabus will not be successful in the assignment/exam/course.
2. If no passing standard is indicated, the required pass is 70%.
3. No make-up assignments will be administered. No late submissions will be accepted. Assignments will not be re-marked.
4. A participant may take a course up to three times.
5. Any unsuccessful participants may not use the appropriate designation after their name.
6. Participants who wish to retake the course in which they were unsuccessful will pay the full registration cost.

Purpose:

The CNEI appeals process provides participants with a fair and timely process to appeal decisions that impact their academic results.

Policy:

1. Participants must approach the instructor first if they feel the result of their assignment/exam/course needs to be addressed. The instructor must inform CASN staff of any requests to review results and inform CASN of the results of the review in writing. If a solution cannot be reached between the instructor and the participant, the participant may move forward with a formal appeal of the result. CASN will provide information about the appeal process to the participant.
2. Participants of a CNEI course who wish to appeal their course result must do so within 10 business days of receiving the result by completing the appeals form. Appeals must be made on the basis of medical reasons, compassionate reasons, or grading or process error.
3. The appeal will be brought to the CNEI Advisory Board sub-committee of appeals.
4. Both the participant’s appeal and the instructor’s reasons for their decision will be examined by the sub-committee, who will make the final decision.
5. The sub-committee’s decision will be communicated to the participant within five business days of the meeting.
6. There is no further appeal if the applicant is unsuccessful with the appeal at the sub-committee level.

Purpose:

CNEI recognizes that regular attendance is essential to successful completion of courses.

Policy:

1. Participants who do not attend all mandatory sessions (without approval from the course instructor/CASN liaison) may be excluded from receiving their certificate.
2. Participants who are unavoidably absent because of illness, disability, or emergency should notify their instructors and CASN liaison at the earliest opportunity.
3. A participant who is absent for more than 30% of the course, for any reason beyond the aforementioned, will not be successful in the course, unless the syllabus indicates otherwise.