Former N.W.T. health board chair 'shocked' by decision to scrap board

The former chair of the N.W.T.'s Health and Social Services Authority's leadership council says he was shocked and dismayed to hear the territory's health minister plans to dissolve the council and replace it with an administrator. 

Health Minister Lesa Semmler announced this week that the leadership council of the Health and Social Services Authority (NTHSSA) will be scrapped and replaced by Dan Florizone, a public administrator from Saskatchewan who has worked in the North. 

The leadership council acts like a board and manages the health authority.

Jim Antoine is a former chair of the leadership council. He spoke with CBC's Trail's End host Lawrence Nayally. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Jim, what did you think when you heard the leadership council was being dissolved and replaced by a single person? 

Well, that was kind of a shock and dismayed kind of reaction, because, you know, there's a lot of history behind it to get it to where it is. To make such a move, it totally caught me by surprise. 

I was appointed as chair for two three-year terms. I ended my tenure in 2022. The way the territorial health board is, is that the chair of each regional board sits on the territorial board. So the majority of them are all strong, Indigenous individuals that listen to the communities and try to have strong input into the health system.

I don't know the reasoning behind it. I think it might be all political. From what I hear, the minister of health, Minister Semmler, was under enormous political pressure from the MLAs from Yellowknife that were trying to make her resign. It seems to be that this board was thrown under the bus to appease them. 

We'll see how it turns out. It will play out. 

The health minister said that council's capacity had been exceeded. As someone who served on the council, what do you make of that? 

Well, the individuals that are on the board are very strong individuals from each region and they really listen to their communities and they want really good service. And that's what they're pushing for the whole health system to do. In 2016, when the government of the day changed into a territorial board, the programs and services that was run by the Department of Health and Social Services was moved over under the board. 

Now it looks like it's going to be one person from Saskatchewan living in Yellowknife. I don't know where the voices of the communities are going to fit into this. I'm shocked and dismayed and confused. And I don't know how that's going to work for now. 

One of the criticisms of the council has been a ballooning deficit. From an insider's perspective, how much control does the council have over that? 

Not really a lot of control, I don't think. We just went through huge expenses you know. Before I left in 2022, we started into an exercise of really looking at the expenditures, what is causing this deficit. We went through the COVID-19 pandemic, that really threw a lot of costs in there, and then we went through the fire seasons.

These things happened after I was gone. When I was leaving back in 2022, we had a plan on how to really look at the cost expenditures, the medical travel, the doctors' costs — it's huge. We're talking huge costs all over the place. It's not only here but it's right across the county. 

Any final thoughts? 

I think this is something that needs to be really, carefully looked at. I don't know what the real reason for this whole scenario to happen was … There was no indication at all publicly or at any time that this was happening so they must have been planning this for a while. They had a public administrator from Saskatchewan show up right away. They pulled the trigger on this. We'll see how this plays out. 

What do you think leaders across the North, Indigenous leaders, should consider when it comes to this? 

Well, you've got to remember in 1988 when health and social services was devolved from the federal government, there was a big uproar about all the leaders of the day. Since then, the political landscape has shifted and changed quite a bit. Health and social services always remained with the territorial government. So there is a need to work closely with the Indigenous governments on this whole health and social services issue.