In the beginning, attention to care of humans was restricted to the destitute, homeless and sick and was offered by committed people associated with a church organization and dated back to the period 1 to 500 A.D.

Florence Nightingale, recognized as the first nurse because of her attention to cleanliness in reducing infection rates was trained by the Order of Deaconesses in Kaiserswerth, Germany in 1836. She was appointed the superintendent of the Female Nursing Establishment of the English General Hospitals in Turkey to care for the soldiers of the Crimean War during 1854 to 1856. In 1859 she wrote a publication called 'Notes on Nursing: What it is and What it is not'. She established the first school of nursing at St. Thomas's Hospital in London in 1860 and that has become recognized as the beginning of an organized nursing profession. It was her that started to emphasize the importance of health promotion.

In 1873 Linda Richards became known as the first trained nurse in the United States when she graduated from the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Boston.

Canada established its first school of nursing in 1874 with the opening of Mark Training School in St. Catharines, Ontario.

The Nurses' Associated Alumnae of United States & Canada was organized in 1897. It was renamed the American Nurses' Association in 1911.

In 1897 the forerunner of our current public health nursing was established in Canada when the Victorian Order of Nurses was established.

International Council of Nurses established in 1899. Founding members were Great Britain, United States and Canada.

In 1908 the Canadian National Association of Trained Nurses was established. It was later renamed the Canadian Nurses' Association.

First baccalaureate degree program in nursing established in 1919 at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

In 1964 Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, Toronto started the first diploma nursing program in Canada within a college institution.