The province is investigating after allegations surfaced late Thursday that medical staff in one or multiple unidentified emergency rooms in B.C. played games involving guessing the blood-alcohol levels of First Nations patients.
B.C. health minister Adrian Dix said he was made aware of the allegations by deputy health minister Stephen Brown on Thursday evening. The province has not released the location or locations where the alleged actions have taken place, but Dix said the evidence is strong enough to necessitate an immediate investigation.
“Should these practices be confirmed, they are unacceptable and racist,” Dix said, adding that the allegations – if true – will require not only correction and remedy, but also reconciliation with First Nations communities to resolve this issue.
Dix added that it is currently unclear if the “games” played by the ER staff also victimized patients from other minority communities. When asked if the staff who are accused of the conduct are still working, Dix noted that it is still very early in the investigations, and officials don’t want to release any more details before all the facts are established.
There has been increasing calls in recent weeks for more attention on how First Nations communities have been protected during the COVID-19 outbreak. Dix acknowledged that is something the province is working on, and the new allegations – if true – place new stress points on an effort to help First Nations communities during a global pandemic.
“We have to take immediate action, because these acts – these events – have a profound effect on how people view the [medical] system, and we cannot, cannot, cannot wait to act together,” Dix said.
The province has appointed former attorney and child-rights advocate Mary-Ellen Turpel Lafond to conduct an immediate investigation. Although Dix said the province has not given Turpel Lafond a deadline for filing her recommendations, the minister did say that action needs to be swift – and the province will follow the investigators’ recommendations promptly when they are released.
The focus to regain the trust of First Nations leaders will be paramount for provincial authorities, Dix added.
“There is a distance to travel, and it’s a distance we need to travel together,” he said. “That work is being done and continuing to be done now. What this tells us is that we not only have to continue that work but to expand that work across the system... Obviously, we are in the process of trying to make systemic change, and those efforts have to be doubled, tripled, quadrupled for whatever it takes.”
