(UPDATE) MLA brands ER diversions ‘unacceptable’ after Fort St. John and Dawson Creek closure overlap avoided last minute

Update, December 31st, 11 a.m.: This article was amended to correct an error and include comments from MLA Jordan Kealy. MLA Larry Neufeld represents Peace River South. Energeticcity.ca is happy to set the record straight.

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — ER closures expected to coincide almost left Fort St. John and Dawson Creek without any emergency healthcare this weekend, before a U-turn avoided the situation.

On December 28th, amidst a flurry of emergency room closures, Northern Health announced both the Fort St. John and Dawson Creek emergency rooms would be experiencing overlapping closures. 

The Dawson Creek closure was scheduled to run from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. on December 28th, and the Fort St. John closure was expected to run from 5 p.m. on December 28th to 7 a.m. December 29th. 

At approximately 4:30 p.m. on December 28th, the health authority announced the Fort St. John closure had been averted.

According to Arthur Williams, a communications advisor with Northern Health, emergency room closures are “always a last resort.”

“Each of the emergency department service interruptions in the northeast were the result of unavoidable staffing challenges, either due to physician or nursing availability,” Williams said. 

Williams explained there were also December 25th closures at the Chetwynd General Hospital and the Fort St. John Hospital, which were due to “known shift vacancies,” while a December 27th closure of the Fort Nelson General emergency department and the Dawson Creek and District Hospital closure on December 28th were due to “scheduled staff being unavailable on short notice.”

“The notification for the Fort St. John Hospital posted briefly on Sunday and then withdrawn, as the site confirmed the staffing challenges had been mitigated late last week,” Williams said. 

Jordan Kealy, the MLA for Peace River North, told Energeticcity.ca this “shouldn’t be happening anymore.”

“Even though it’s not happening as frequently as it used to, it was very saddening to see how widespread it was across the province, of other closures as well of other emergency rooms,” Kealy said.

“All it takes is for a holiday to happen to throw the system completely out of whack across the whole province.”

Larry Neufeld, the MLA for Peace River South, told Energeticcity.ca he felt the situation with emergency room closures was “unacceptable.” 

“The people of the north deserve and demand equal healthcare to that which is provided to those in the south,” Neufeld said. 

“We demand equal treatment, and particularly equal medical treatment as to what someone in Vancouver would receive.”

During an emergency room closure, Northern Health advises residents in need of life-threatening emergency care to call 911 for transport to the nearest available facility.

So far this month, Northern Health has reported six emergency room closures, totalling 39.5 hours. 

This year, emergency rooms in the northeast have closed their doors 49 times for a total of more than 716 hours. 

Between August 2024 and January 2025, emergency rooms in the northeast closed 26 times for 358 hours.