This article traces the historic antecedents of outreach nursing in Canada, going as far back as the Grey Nuns in what is now Quebec. It attempts to place modern-day street nursing in a historical context, which includes Nightingale, Wald, the early Victorian Order of Nurses, and the social reform movements of the early 20th century. The article critiques the involvement of nursing in less than virtuous aspects of social control with respect to impoverished and otherwise marginalized groups. The article goes on to trace the origins of modern Canadian street nursing in three cities: Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. It uses both a search of the nursing literature and, because much of this history is undocumented, oral history and anecdotal information as well. It critiques nursing's traditional avoidance of political action and calls upon modern-day nurses to support and educate one another to engage in this work.

Abstract Research conducted in 2016 explored the health care experiences of people who use illicit opioids in small Ontario urban and rural communities. Perspectives of participants who used opioids and of nurse participants were interpreted using Friere’s critical social theory framework to explore sociopolitical, economic and ideological influences. Findings describe pervasive experiences of stigma, discrimination and inappropriate care. Exploration of why such negative experiences with nursing care might be so pervasive led to a consideration of the context of health care systems and in particular of the influences of neoliberalism and the impact of the global War on Drugs. Mitigation strategies to support contextualized nursing practice are outlined. Nurses are called upon to actively resist the pressures of these political forces by advocating for policy change including decriminalization.

Nurses who practice with criminalized women will recognize this group as profoundly marginalized through multiple, intersecting mechanisms. The number of women imprisoned in North America, Latin America, Australia, and Western Europe continues to rise as it has for the past 20 years or more. As a nurse who has practiced almost exclusively with marginalized people, I have met and cared for many women whose health is made vulnerable by race, poverty, homelessness, mental health issues, and other factors. Many of them have been repeatedly incarcerated, experiencing chronically destabilizing cycles of getting arrested, going to jail, getting out, being homeless, getting arrested again, and repeating the cycle. To better understand the implications for nursing with respect to criminalized women, a focused review of the nursing and feminist scholarly literature on incarcerated women was conducted. The predominant themes and trends from both bodies of literature are presented and cross-compared. An analysis of what each body of scholarly work can offer to the other, including implications for nursing practice, concludes the literature review.