2026 CNA Values

Rola El Moubadder is an innovator whose work has advanced equitable workforce integration and strengthened health systems across Canada. With expertise spanning nursing practice, education, policy, and system leadership, she serves as executive director of the CARE Centre for Internationally Educated Nurses. Under her leadership, the CARE Centre has partnered with more than 35 health-care organizations to develop innovative workforce integration initiatives and strategic partnerships, supporting more than 900 internationally educated nurses (IENs) through licensure, employment, retention, leadership development, and culturally responsive practice.

Drawing on both professional expertise and lived experience, Rola has championed sustainable solutions that address systemic barriers while advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism. As a University of Toronto educator, published author, mentor, and international speaker, she bridges research, practice, policy, and leadership development. Through the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario’s International Nursing Interest Group and numerous professional forums, she contributes to national dialogue on IEN integration, nursing education, workforce planning, and inclusive pathways. Her leadership has transformed pathways for IENs, strengthening workforce sustainability, advancing equitable health-care delivery, and shaping a more inclusive nursing profession across Canada.

Dr. Cheryl Pollard is a distinguished registered nurse, registered psychiatric nurse, educator, scholar, and leader whose career has advanced mental health care, nursing education, and health system improvement in Canada and internationally. Recognized for her expertise in mental health, suicide prevention, recovery-oriented practice, and lived experience-informed care, she has championed equitable, inclusive, compassionate, and person-centred approaches that address stigma and improve outcomes for diverse populations. As a professor, associate dean, and dean, Cheryl led transformative initiatives that expanded access to nursing education, strengthened workforce capacity, and fostered inclusive learning and workplace cultures. Her influential publications, psychiatric mental health nursing textbooks, research, and policy-relevant presentations have informed practice, education, and professional standards across jurisdictions. Through clinical, academic, advisory, governance, and leadership roles, she has brought a courageous and ethical nursing perspective to complex decisions and system change. Cheryl’s enduring contributions have strengthened nursing’s credibility and influence while advancing compassionate, evidence-informed, and inclusive health-care systems nationally and internationally through scholarship, academic leadership, policy and governance.

Yvonne Sam is a retired head nurse, nursing examiner, educator, advocate, and community champion whose more than four decades of service have advanced nursing, health care, and social justice. Throughout her career, she has championed equitable and culturally responsive care through clinical leadership, education, community engagement, and public advocacy. As an obstetric charge nurse and community nurse for over 25 years, she supported “deinstitutionalized” patients through health education, medication management, and self-care while mentoring nurses and health-care workers. Her advocacy was a driving force behind McGill University revising its medical school admission requirements to create the Black Candidate Pathway, a specialized stream designed to dismantle the very systemic barriers she had criticized. She currently serves as a community advisor on the university’s Anti-Black Racism Committee of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. An accomplished writer and speaker, she has contributed to national conversations on nursing and equity. Her compassionate service was recognized with the Governor General of Canada’s Caring Canadian Award and the National Assembly of Quebec’s D’Arcy McGee medal.

Dr. Rani H. Srivastava is recognized for her transformative leadership in advancing cultural competence, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism. Since 1981, Rani has been a CNA member and served as an educator, practice leader, chief nursing executive, and dean, bridging academia, clinical practice, leadership, and policy. For decades, Rani has championed culturally safe, person-centred care and equitable environments for patients, communities, students, nurses, and health professionals. Her national and global contributions include the Culture Care Framework that recognizes culture as patterns and power, bringing an intersectional lens to addressing this phenomenon. She co-chaired the CNA Anti-racism Action Council, and her leadership has made profound impacts at CNA and the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing. A respected scholar, author, mentor, and systems leader, she has translated evidence, lived experience, and patient preferences into education, professional standards, organizational practice, and national dialogue. Rani has strengthened nursing’s capacity to confront bias, foster inclusion, and advance meaningful change across health care and society in Canada and beyond, for generations of nurses.