Yukon health professionals slam government's plans to update Health Professions Act

Some Yukon health professionals say they disagree with the government's plans to update the territory's Health Professions Act. 

The Yukon government intends to make the Health Professions Act the umbrella legislation for all 14 regulated health professions in the territory.

Currently, only four health professions — physiotherapists, registered psychiatric nurses, pharmacists and midwives — are regulated under that act. The remaining ten regulated professions, including physicians, dentists and registered nurses, have their own acts. 

If the government's plans go ahead, the territory would become the sole regulator for these 14 professions. It says this will make the public complaints process against health professionals consistent and accessible, as right now it varies widely. For example, some regulated health professionals have no complaints process available to the public, and others require complainants to go to court.

Jessica Mulli, a registered nurse, said the government's plan creates a conflict of interest, because the government employs both registered nurses and nurse practitioners. Currently, registered nurses and nurse practitioners are regulated by the Yukon Registered Nurses Association (YRNA).

"It's going to increase risk, because nurses are going to be afraid – nurses and other health professionals – to complain," said Mulli. "They'll feel like they can't."

Mulli was one of about a dozen health professionals who attended a public engagement session in Whitehorse on Tuesday. The session was intended to be an opportunity for members of the public to discuss the complaints process under the Health Professions Act. However, only health professionals were in attendance.

They expressed concerns that the government is not being transparent about the potential consequences of its plan. 

"It sounds really good to the public and this is why I don't think the public's here," Mulli said on Tuesday. "But, I don't think that, and it's not going to sell with health professionals…we're talking about registered nurses who would leave the territory if this was the case. My husband and I will leave the territory."

Complaints process is flawed

Despite their concerns about the government's approach, the health professionals at Tuesday's session agreed that the current complaints process under the act is flawed and needs to change. 

Francis Van Kessel is a family support worker with Ta'an Kwach'an Council and the Indigenous representative for the YRNA. She described the system as not accessible or culturally safe for Indigenous people.

"The government and health professions still continue to hurt Indigenous people to this day. And the complaint process in the Yukon is not culturally safe," Van Kessel said. "Go to a website? Can you imagine a 90-year-old, that little old elder woman, [going] to a website? Are you kidding me?"

Shellby Fulton, another nurse at the engagement session, said the session itself was also culturally unsafe for Indigenous people. She is also a citizen of Selkirk First Nation.

"I very much see this as a colonial act…it goes against our commitment to truth and reconciliation," Fulton said. "And I say that with such a heavy heart because I'm a Western-health-care provider and it is such a hard place to be."

A different path forward

Health professionals say there is a way to address the barriers and inconsistencies that exist in the complaints process, without the government becoming the sole regulator.

Instead, they are asking for an independent regulatory body for the 14 health professions that includes First Nations rights holders, members of the public and health-care professionals. They said this would allow for a standardized and accessible complaints process without creating a conflict of interest.

For now, the government officials at Tuesday's session said they plan to continue with the engagement process about the proposed changes to the Health Professions Act. There will be an online public engagement session on Jan. 28 and the public can fill-out a survey about the complaints process until Feb. 7. 

The updated legislation is expected to be tabled during the fall sitting of the 2027 Legislative Assembly.