Victorian Order of Nurses

The Victorian Order of Nurses (VON) is a non-profit charitable organization founded in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on January 29, 1897 created as a gift for Queen Victoria for the purposes of home care and social services. It is registered as a charity the Canada Revenue Agency, charity number 129482493RR0001. The current President & CEO is Jo-Anne Poirier.

Lady Aberdeen, wife of Canadian Governor General Lord Aberdeen, visited Vancouver, British Columbia in 1896. While there, she heard many stories of women and children alone in remote areas of Canada as their husbands had to travel great distances for medical help. At a meeting of the National Council for Women in Halifax, Nova Scotia, she was asked to create an order of visiting nurses in Canada. It was to be a memorial for the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's ascent to the throne of the British Empire. At Rideau Hall on February 10, 1897, The Right Honourable Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier hosted an inauguration to create the Victorian Order of Nurses "as a mode of commemoration by the Dominion (Canada) of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee". In 1898, the first nurse training program was established for the Victorian Order of Nurses in Ottawa, Ontario.

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