Yukon takes first step to create health authority

The Yukon Government has taken the first step to creating a health authority in the territory, an arm's-length organization that will carry out front line care.

Tracy-Anne McPhee, minister of health and social services, tabled the Health Authority Act in the Yukon Legislature Monday, but if passed, the authority itself is still years away.  

At a news conference Monday, Tiffany Boyd, deputy minister of the health department, said that once implemented, the authority would be in charge of delivering acute care while the health department sets out high level direction. 

"It's about putting the person and family at the centre of care in everything that we do," she said.

The legislation is the result of findings from an independent panel in 2020. That panel made 76 recommendations to improve Yukon healthcare and creating a distinct health authority was among them. Yukon is currently one of two jurisdictions in Canada without the authority, along with Nunavut. 

Boyd is also the co-chair of the health transformation advisory committee and said the transition could take up to three years if the bill passes. 

Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation Chief Pauline Frost said the new health authority would help Indigenous people feel culturally safe while receiving medical care. 

She said that Indigenous Yukoners' life expectancy can be 10 years shorter than non-Indigenous residents and she said that's the result of Indigenous people falling through the cracks of the territorial and federal systems. 

She said the health authority would be created in partnership with Yukon First Nations and it will help create a system free of racial discrimination.   

The authority would be operated by a seven-person board of directors with four board members nominated by the health minister and three nominated by the Yukon First Nations.

McPhee said that many employees who currently work for the health department will migrate to working under the health authority. The Yukon government has set aside $9.4 million in the 2024-25 budget to establish the health authority. Though arm's-length, the authority will be funded mostly by the territory.  

Asked at Monday's press conference what would change practically for Yukoners if this comes into effect, McPhee said it's too soon to say and that the details will be established as the transition begins. 

"We have great ideas about how that might happen, but none of it is carved in stone," she said.