Parties weigh in on future of Yukon health authority as election nears
By Gabrielle Plonka
The Yukon Party says it won’t commit to launching a territorial health authority if elected, making it the only territorial party to shy away from the long-promised transition of health services to an umbrella organization.
Yukon Party Leader Currie Dixon says he’s not convinced the health authority would actually improve health care in the territory.
We think there are concerns, there are unanswered questions, and we’re going to reassess whether or not we should launch the health authority under the current plan, Dixon said.
The health authority was recommended after an independent review of the health system in 2019. The expert panel that undertook the review suggested that a unified health authority would break down silos between hospitals and health centres and improve cultural safety.
The Health Authority Act was passed in spring 2024. The first health authority board was appointed two months ago.
One of the mandates of the health authority would be to address systemic racism. Authority board chair Stephen Mills said cultural safety training would be one of the board’s first tasks, with a cultural safety strategy to follow.
Patient calls for change
A Yukon woman who said she recently experienced racism at the Whitehorse hospital said she wants the next government to implement that cultural safety training.
Mckayla Williams is a Taku River Tlingit citizen from Atlin, B.C., who now lives in Whitehorse.
When severe pain led her to seek care at the hospital recently, she said she was accused of faking her symptoms to get painkillers.
Most of my life I’ve been hearing bad stories about how people are treated, Williams said. Still, she said she was shocked when the discrimination against her was so blatant.
Williams said she filed a complaint but didn’t get a response.
Her experience, she added, led her to favour the establishment of a health authority if it will make the needed changes.
I think that’s the only way it’ll get better, and the only way we’ll feel safe there, [so] more people would want the help, instead of not getting it, she said.
Dixon told CBC News he is committed to improving cultural safety in the system.
Cultural safety and engagement with First Nations — those things should happen, regardless of whether it’s a health authority or not, he said.
Yukon NDP commits to health authority, eventually
The Yukon NDP says, if elected, it will commit to the Yukon Health Authority.
But leader Kate White said the party won’t necessarily commit to launching it in 2027 because it plans to do more engagement with the unions representing health care workers first.
I just want to assure folks who are concerned about their pensions and their pay and their seniority – I’ve heard you loud and clear, White said in a phone interview with CBC News.
Before transitioning to the authority, White said an NDP government would spend time with First Nations leaders and health-care workers, but wouldn’t undo the work already done.
Yukoners deserve respectful and culturally safe health care which is the ultimate goal behind the health authority, White said.
The NDP launched its campaign with a health care focus, promising to connect every Yukoner with a family doctor.
Yukon Liberal Party pledges to stay the course
If re-elected, the Liberal party says it’ll stick to the plan for launching a Yukon Health Authority with a projected rollout in 2027.
This is a major step forward to improve health care for all Yukoners, said Liberal Leader Mike Pemberton.
Pemberton said he was “shocked” to hear the Yukon Party might not follow through on it. The Yukon is one of only two jurisdictions without a health authority, Pemberton said.
Why do we want to walk backwards?, he said.
Pemberton said a re-elected Liberal government would also commit in its third term to retaining health-care workers and making more clinic space available.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Health staff in Fort Smith receiving made-in-the-North anti-racism training, CBC News
Finland: Sami Parliament in Finland agrees more time needed for Truth and Reconciliation Commission preparation, Eye on the Arctic
Greenland: Danish PM apologizes to Greenlanders taken to Denmark as children in 1950s, Eye on the Arctic
Sweden: Sami in Sweden start work on structure of Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Eye on the Arctic
