Statistics Canada publishes salary figures based on Canadian Census data. The most recent data produced by Canadian Census was the result of a poll conducted in 2006 that revealed salary information from the previous calendar year, 2005. As the Canadian Nurses Association in collaboration with provincial and territorial licensing and regulatory authorities work to clearly define the scope and standards of practice for nurse practitioners (NP) and clinical nurse specialists (CNS), there has been some discrepancy in how these advanced practice nurses (APNs) have identified themselves in census polls.
Although APNs are registered nurses with expanded practice privileges granted by their respective provincial College of Nursing, many serve as primary care providers, and some hold doctorate degrees. As such, some identified themselves as primary practitioners, placing themselves within the General Practitioners and Family Physicians National Occupational Classification. In the interest of providing comprehensive and comparable information, both sets of data have been provided when available.
The Occupational Classification for Head Nurses and Supervisors represents RNs in leadership roles. The Occupational Classification for Registered Nurses includes only non-managing clinicians, while the classification for Nurse Supervisors and RNs includes the total average between these two groups.