Registered nurse Sheila Early, a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan (USask) Nursing program, has been recognized for her pioneering work in forensic nursing with an appointment as a member of the Order of Canada. The honor was announced on Dec. 31, 2025.
Early, who now resides in Surrey, British Columbia, helped develop that province's first forensic nursing program, which provides survivors of violence with improved access to essential, patient-focused services and trauma-informed care. Her work has transformed how health care, legal, and law professionals respond to violence across Canada.
Early life and career
After surviving a car accident as a young child, Early decided she wanted to become a nurse. She graduated from USask's Nursing program in 1969 as a married student and went on to work for more than 36 years in emergency departments in Saskatchewan and British Columbia.
Early still maintains deep ties to Saskatchewan, including a family cottage on Emma Lake. As she puts it, “A Saskatchewan girl never really leaves.”
Pioneering forensic nursing
In 1992, while working at Surrey Memorial Hospital in B.C., Early became the first registered nurse in the province to perform a sexual assault exam. Recognizing a critical gap in care for survivors of sexual assault, she launched B.C.'s innovative forensic nursing program.
“There was a startling lack of care, and we could do something better than what we were doing,” Early recalls. She refers back to three sexual assault patients from her emergency department days that “stayed with me.” These patients were deeply impacted by their experiences and suffered from ongoing mental health issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder. At the same time, Early felt that police officers and prosecutors were not getting what they needed from the emergency department to properly fulfill their roles in the justice system.
“The devastation of violence and trauma on individuals, families, communities and society was clear to me from the beginning of my career in emergency,” Early says.
National and international leadership
Early's professional achievements extend over more than five decades. She is a past-president of the International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN) and co-founded the Canadian Forensic Nurses Association. She also created Canada's first classroom-delivered forensic health sciences certificate program.
Nurses in the U.S. cities of Amarillo, Memphis, and Minneapolis were innovating in forensic nursing in the 1970s, and by 1995, the American Nurses Association had recognized forensic nursing as a specialty. Early looked south of the border to advance the specialty in Canada and soon became the primary forensic nursing educator in British Columbia.
Throughout her career, Early has been mentored by Virginia Lynch, a forensic nurse recognized globally as a pioneer. In 1995, Lynch wrote: “Forensic nursing is one example of an innovative expansion of the role nurses will fill in the health-care delivery system of the future. Because most emergency personnel and pre-hospital care providers ordinarily have only secondary interests in forensic matters, the motivated and skilled forensic nurse can serve as an invaluable resource for the criminal justice system, the hospital, and the patient.”
Order of Canada recognition
Describing the news of her appointment to the Order of Canada, Early says, “I was floored. I had to sit down immediately.” The honor recognizes her pioneering contributions to forensic nursing and her impact on the Canadian health-care system.
