Minister Hindley guarantees reopening of Kamsack Hospital following tour, rally
Minister Hindley guarantees reopening of Kamsack Hospital following tour, rally
Kamsack, Sask. -
An emotionally-charged day in front of the Kamsack Hospital included boos from a crowd of around 200, as Minister Everett Hindley toured the facility, and spoke to the rally’s participants.
The rally was expected to be held at 8:30 a.m., but crowds ballooned from the dozens, all the way to the eventual roughly 200 who got their chance to show Hindley how they really felt.
Video from CTV News shows the crowds displeasure after Hindley, a staff aid, and local Canora-Pelly MLA Terry Dennis addressed the onlookers.
Dennis and Hindley addressed the rally first just after 10 a.m., for about 10 minutes prior to a tour of the Kamsack Hospital, which just saw its facility lose its remaining five acute care beds, along with shrinking emergency hours from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays.
“We’re trying to do as much as we can,” Hindley told the concerned citizens.
“Sometimes, we’ve got to think outside the box, because rural health care isn’t the same it was 20 years ago,” said Dennis.
Following the 10 minutes, Hindley’s aid can be seen working to move Dennis and Hindley into the facility, with a smirk on his face.
Those who weren’t smirking, the entirety of the crowd of 200, then booed the Minister and the local MLA.
The three were expected at the hospital around 9 a.m. Instead, around 9:30 a.m., NDP MLA Matt Love of Saskatoon-Westview addressed the crowd with an impromptu Q and A.
Among the concerns, some questioned why politicians are involved in health care at all. That concern was echoed throughout Thursday’s press conference and rally.
“There’s one government in Saskatchewan responsible for hospitals closing today, and that’s the SaskParty government. They’ve taken zero responsibility for their own mismanagement,” Love commented.
“The NDP closed hospitals that never were reopened. In the case of Kamsack, this is a temporary disruption,” Hindley responded.
Following the tour, Hindley addressed reporters and was asked twice if he’d guarantee the reopening of the Kamsack Hospital.
“We’re going to do that,” he promised in his second response. “We’ll reopen the hospital. We’re going to bring in staff. This is not a permanent closure of the Kamsack Hospital. This is a temporary situation because we don’t have the number of staff we need — the appropriate staff we need.”
When asked what he expected in visiting the hospital, with a group of protestors waiting for his arrival, Hindley didn’t beat around the bush.
“We expected there would be people, obviously, concerned about the situation in Kamsack here. This is their community and the hospital is a key part of their community,” he said.
Hindley was also asked about the complex geography and service area for Kamsack, as it involves three Indigenous communities, Kamsack itself, Duck Mountain Provincial Park, along with three cities in Manitoba and all areas in and around those communities. He said all areas in Saskatchewan have unique challenges.
With Kamsack’s HIV issues and overdose issues — over 50 community members in the area have died due to overdose, according to the Walking Buffalo Detox Centre on the Cote First Nation — its led to many worries across First Nations leadership.
“We have records of people coming here (Kamsack Hospital), and being sent home and dying at home. We’re in a perpetual crisis in our three communities, and we have two, three funerals a week — one week, we had five funerals — and that’s every week,” said Ted Quewezance, part of the Saulteaux Pelly Agency Chiefs Health Alliance.
Thursday’s demonstrations, along with the subsequent talks with Hindley and company may have left more questions unanswered, than answered on the future of the facility.
Yet, one thing is for certain: Kamsack’s residents won’t be going out quietly.
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
Dominic Barton, the former global managing director of McKinsey & Company, says he had no involvement in federal contracts awarded to the firm in recent years.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall robbery.
A suicide bomber who killed 101 people at a mosque in northwest Pakistan this week had disguised himself in a police uniform and did not raise suspicion among guards, the provincial police chief said on Thursday.
When the opera 'La Flambeau' premieres next week in Montreal, Black performers will be front and centre in an artistic medium where they have historically been under-represented.
Top European Union officials arrived in Kyiv on Thursday for talks with Ukrainian officials as rescue crews dug through the rubble of an apartment building in eastern Ukraine struck by a Russian missile, killing at least three people and wounding about 20 others.
In Washington progress on police brutality appears difficult, if not unlikely. Bipartisan efforts to reach an agreement on policing legislation stalled more than a year ago, and President Joe Biden ended up instead signing an executive order named for George Floyd, whose murder at the hands of Minneapolis police set off nationwide protests nearly three years ago.
The organization regulating medical care and services in Manitoba is apologizing for racism directed towards Indigenous people when accessing health care in the province.
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
Calgary police are looking for suspects involved in an altercation that lasted for approximately an hour, spanned several communities and ended with a gun being fired.
Tsuut'ina Nation Police Service officials are encouraging any local victims to come forward following the arrest of actor Nathan Lee Chasing Horse in Las Vegas on sex assault charges.
A large crowd of around 700 students, faculty members and Lethbridge residents came out on Wednesday to protest a planned speech by Frances Widdowson at the University of Lethbridge that didn't take place.
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall robbery.
Ottawa ranks 45th out of 62 cities across Canada and the United States in a study on downtown recovery, with activity levels at 51 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
While crews have resumed operations in an attempt to open the Rideau Canal Skateway for its 53rd season, an NCC spokesperson says the canal will not open in time for the first weekend of Winterlude on Friday.
B.C.'s Ministry of Health is continuing its multi-year trend of paying millions more dollars each year to private surgical centres for the delivery of public health care, CTV News has learned.
Changes to the amount of time the public gets to voice their opinion during Surrey City Council meetings has caused controversy among former councillors.
Canada's new special representative on combating Islamophobia has apologized for words that hurt Quebecers after leaders in that province called for her resignation.
A homicide investigation is underway on Quadra Island, B.C., after a 39-year old woman was found dead in what investigators believe was a targeted killing.
Alberta's former chief medical officer of health has landed a new role in British Columbia. Dr. Deena Hinshaw was named a deputy provincial health officer for B.C. on Wednesday.
A new 911 dispatch system in New Brunswick means that now fire departments aren’t getting dispatched to all medical calls leaving residents waiting and first responders in the dark.
Wiarton Willie has predicted an early spring! The groundhog in South Bruce Peninsula didn't see his shadow at 8:07 a.m. on Thursday morning, meaning sprin gis on the way.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall robbery.
Wiarton Willie made his prediction his spring prediction Thursday morning at 8:07 a.m. The groundhog did not see his shadow, meaning we could get an early spring.
A hearing is underway to determine if Udo Haan is not criminally responsible for the death of his wife Edra Haan, who was found in the aftermath of the 2018 house explosion in Kitchener, Ont.
