NO VALUE FOR INDIGENOUS LIFE? Fatal Delays on Haisla Territory Expose Governance Crisis at Kitimat General Hospital Foundation

KITIMAT, B.C. — The heartbreaking death of a 17-year-old Indigenous resident of Kitimat, has exposed a deep crisis of governance and accountability in Northern B.C., raising devastating questions about whose lives are valued by the institutions responsible for protecting them.

The teen, died in the emergency room of Kitimat General Hospital in October 2025. He had waited nearly five hours for a diagnostic CT scan that could not be performed locally because Kitimat’s new $4.7 million CT scanner — fully funded months earlier — remained non-operational. His death, which Skeena MLA Claire Rattée has described as “entirely preventable,” occurred amid a months-long administrative stall on a critical, community-funded healthcare project.

“A mother lost her son because the system failed him at every stage,” said MLA Claire Rattée, the Conservative Opposition Critic for Mental Health and Addictions. “How many more people have to die before this government gets the CT scanner running in Kitimat?”

The Fatal Five-Hour Delay on Haisla Territory

On the night he died, the teen arrived at the Kitimat General Hospital at 5:10 p.m. His condition deteriorated rapidly into a life-threatening emergency. Despite this, the CT scan was not ordered until nearly five hours later.

Because the community-funded scanner remained non-operational, staff were forced to arrange a Priority 1 transfer to Terrace. When no ambulance was available in Kitimat, the delay became fatal: The teen died on the gurney moments before the delayed transport could even begin.

Governance Concerns and Concentration of Power

The circumstances surrounding the scanner delay have intensified scrutiny of Kitimat’s unusual governance structure. The Kitimat General Hospital Foundation (KGHF), which oversees health fundraising and infrastructure initiatives, is led by the same individual who simultaneously serves as Executive Director of the Kitimat Chamber of Commerce.

This dual-role arrangement — blending business-sector advocacy with oversight of life-saving medical infrastructure — is uncommon in British Columbia and has raised concerns about mandate alignment, administrative capacity, and oversight.

The nine-month delay in finalizing the CT scanner agreement with Northern Health occurred under this governance structure. While no official findings have attributed responsibility, the overlap between the two roles has prompted questions about whether governance capacity contributed to the prolonged stall.

Indigenous Exclusion in Health Governance

The teen death on Haisla Territory also highlights longstanding concerns about Indigenous exclusion in decision-making related to local healthcare infrastructure.

Publicly available information indicates that the KGHF board does not include Haisla or Indigenous representation, despite overseeing major health projects in an Indigenous-majority region. This absence has raised concerns that administrative decisions affecting local health services did not include perspectives from the community most impacted by delays.

Calls for Inquiry and Accountability

MLA Claire Rattée has called for a full, independent public inquiry into both Vincent’s death and the delayed CT scanner project. She has also urged a forensic audit of the KGHF’s governance model and project timeline, arguing that the public deserves clarity on how a fully funded scanner remained unavailable during a life-or-death emergency.

The tragedy has renewed scrutiny of rural healthcare infrastructure, emergency transport capacity, and the structural inequities that continue to affect Indigenous families in Northern B.C.