Media Advisory - Ontario Nurses' Association, North York Family Health Team Patients to Call for Resumption of Negotiations, Government Accountability to End Eight-Week Primary Care Strike

TORONTO, Dec. 8, 2025 /CNW/ - The Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) will hold a media conference tomorrow morning to demand the board of the North York Family Health Team (NYFHT) resume negotiations for a fair first collective agreement for 44 striking nurses and health-care professionals.

ONA notes that this primary care provider has redirected special funding to retain and recruit more front-line workers to primary care, and continues to offer zero per cent increases to the 44 front-line workers who help provide care to 95,000 patients. Patients are signing on to an open letter demanding action as the strike is in its eight week.

ONA President Erin Ariss, RN, along with pharmacist/ONA Bargaining Unit President Rita Ha and Ontario Federation of Labour President Laura Walton, will call on the health team board to resume talks, and will discuss the impact on patient care to date, as well as the need for the province to be accountable for ensuring funding meant for the front lines is spent appropriately. The NYFHT used this special funding, recommended by primary care advisor Dr. Jane Philpott, to balance a budget deficit, leaving none of it for wage increases as intended.

"As the auditor general pointed out recently, there is a lack of accountability for how our primary care dollars are being spent at the provincial level," says Ariss. "This strike is an example, and it's time to rectify that. We must demand better of our government and recipients of our health-care funding dollars. Our patients deserve no less."

ONA is the union representing over 68,000 registered nurses and health-care professionals, as well as 18,000 nursing student affiliates, providing care in hospitals, long-term care, public health, the community, clinics, and industry. 

SOURCE Ontario Nurses' Association