The Weeneebayko Area Health Authority is calling on the federal government to make good on its promise to provide funding for a new health campus to replace a 75-year-old hospital that is in a state of disrepair.
WAHA, a First Nation regional health authority located on the west coast of James Bay in northern Ontario, was looking for funding in the budget tabled in April. But it found no financial commitment within the fiscal blueprint. First Nations leaders, along with health officials, held a news conference in Ottawa on Monday to express their dismay.
Water damage can be seen on the ceiling where water has leaked through the wooden roof, outside the office of Elaine Innes, Chief of Staff of the Weeneebayko Area Health Authority.Supplied
The lack of federal dollars for the new health campus came as a surprise because in 2007, Ottawa signed an agreement to fund 45 per cent of capital costs to build a new health campus, including a hostel, staff housing, an eldercare centre and a new hospital in Moosonee and acute care centre on Moose Factory Island.
Lynne Innes, CEO of WAHA, said during regular tripartite meetings between the federal government, the government of Ontario and Weeneebayko health officials, there was no indication Ottawa would not fulfill its part of the agreement.
A press release by WAHA said the process to get approval and eventual funding began “in earnest” in 2019. Ms. Innes said contracts have been recently awarded and some construction has begun. Funding was expected this year, she said.
She also said Monday the expectation would be for Ottawa to provide $1.34-billion for the project.
The new health campus would replace the Weeneebayko General Hospital that officials say is crumbling. Photos from inside the building show a number of structural issues, including signs of water leaking through the ceiling.
“It’s one of the oldest hospitals in Canada that has never been renovated, never been kept in a good way to meet today’s standards,” said Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak.
Elaine Innes, who is chief of staff at the hospital, said the ceiling began falling apart in the hall outside her office, letting a steady stream of water come in.
“Would you want to look at that when you’re a patient? Wondering if maybe the roof is going to fall on you?” Ms. Innes said.
Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler, whose umbrella organization represents 49 communities in northern Ontario, shared at the press conference on Monday that he was a “bit angry” about First Nations leaders needing to travel hundreds of miles from their communities to implore Canada to follow through.
“You actually need to step up and honour these commitments that you’ve made,” he said. “Enough of these empty gestures.”
On X, Ontario Minister of Health Sylvia Jones shared a letter on May 14 to the federal government expressing her disappointment in its failure to support the development and inviting the federal Minister of Health and the Minister of Indigenous Services Canada to visit the existing facility with her on June 17.
“Anyone who has visited the current site recognizes the current hospital is at the end of its life,” Ms. Jones wrote.
Ontario NDP MP Charlie Angus said the federal government’s decision to “walk away” from the new hospital project has plunged health service in the region “into chaos.”
“This project was carefully negotiated with the province, the federal government and the communities of James Bay,” Mr. Angus said. “Minister [Patty] Hajdu needs to explain why she has abandoned the northern communities.”
The Minister of Indigenous Services Canada and the department did not respond by deadline to requests to comment on Monday.
Originally a 200-bed tuberculosis facility, the existing hospital is also a reminder of the colonial history of Canada, Lynne Innes, the CEO, said.
Many Indigenous children were brought in after being ripped from their families for treatment. Only accessible by helicopter, children in the sanatorium were isolated, away from their families, their homeland, their language and their culture.
Lynne Innes said WAHA reached out to the federal government to understand what has happened to the promised funding. Others have written letters to urge the government to renew its commitment to the project, including 100 CEOs from the Ontario Hospital Association.
WAHA has not received a response, Ms. Innes said, while some individuals have. But she said the government has provided generic responses and has not provided an explanation as to why the funding was not contained in the budget.
WAHA officials are expecting to have a regularly scheduled meeting with the federal government on Thursday, she added.