Health Department confirms investigation of medical professional
No other information offered; officials cite privacy concerns
Nunavut’s Department of Health says an active investigation involving a licensed medical practitioner is underway in the territory. (File photo)
Nunavut’s Department of Health is investigating a complaint against a licensed medical practitioner in the territory, but is not sharing details about who is under investigation or the nature of the complaint.
“Access to information is restricted to protect confidentiality and the integrity of the process,” said Chelsea Halvorson, a communications consultant for the Department of Health, in an email.
The department issued a public call in December for members to serve on future boards of inquiry under the Medical Professions Act.
A board of inquiry is convened if a Health Department investigation deems a formal inquiry is necessary.
It sought three types of members: a medical practitioner registered in Nunavut, a medical practitioner licensed elsewhere in Canada but not in Nunavut, and a public member who is not a medical professional and does not work for the Department of Health.
Board members haven’t yet been appointed. Once they are, the board will announce the date for its first meeting, said Charmaine Deogracias, the department’s communications manager.
Under Nunavut’s Medical Professions Act, complaints remain “unproven allegations” until they are resolved through an inquiry.
A board of inquiry, Deogracias said, will look at the evidence and decide if there was improper conduct or a failure to meet the standard of care.
The act requires complainants and affected medical practitioners to be notified of all complaints, investigations and board of inquiry hearings.
She said that over the past 10 years, the department has received “fewer than five complaints.”
While a board has discretion to notify the public of hearings, it is not required to do so and there is no online registry of complaints or hearing schedules in Nunavut, Deogracias said.
“The privacy of complainants, particularly in a small population, could be easily compromised if [inquiry] proceedings were fully open to the public,” she said.
“In a small jurisdiction like Nunavut, this approach helps protect fairness for both patients and practitioners.”
This differs from the College and Association of Nurses of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut’s professional conduct committee, whose decisions are posted on its website including the health professional’s name.
Ontario uses the Health Professions Discipline Tribunal, an administrative body that conducts disciplinary hearings for multiple health colleges including the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.
In Ontario, hearings are often livestreamed, decisions and summaries are publicly posted online, and documents such as notices of hearing, statements of fact, orders, and reasons are accessible to the public, though sensitive personal health information is redacted.
“Each medical regulator in Canada operates within its own legislative framework and bylaws, which can result in different approaches across jurisdictions,” said Mickey Cirak, spokesperson with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, in an email.
Nunavut’s board of inquiry operates independently from the Department of Health and has the powers of a public inquiry — including allowing public attendance, except where privacy protections are required.
Not a whole lot of information here, can we get a update about this when there’s more information.
The Board of Inquiry and the Department of Health believes they are not obligated to publish notices or decisions or make their hearing process transparent at all. Courts do this everyday with “sensitive” matters, but these tribunals cannot? The open court principle applies to these adjudicative tribunals in Nunavut under the law like they do everywhere else.
.
What you have is a Board of doctors and GN staffers, appointed by the Minister, who are responsible for disciplining physicians. No where else in Canada but the territories is professional discipline of doctors and dentists handled in-house by the Government, who also serves as their employer. Do you think there is no conflict of interest when the boss of Registrar of Medical Professions is the same Minister of Health who cannot hire enough medical professionals?
.
Newsmakers have successfully forced tribunals to be open in lots of cases elsewhere in Canada. Nunatsiaq should consider doing so in Nunavut. Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd. v. Ontario (Attorney General), 2018 ONSC 2586 and and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation v. Canada (Parole Board), 2023 FCA 166 confirm the open court principle applies to adjudicative tribunals like those hearing complaints about medical providers in Nunavut. Secretive Star Chambers have no place when providers of public medical services are subject to professional misconduct proceedings. The ongoing practice has a chilling effect: why do you think there have only been 5 complaints over the decades? Because our providers are so great?
At least they’re transparently following the process – a lot better than the other GN departments that choose to hold no one accountable and wash their hands of any complaints.
Well its hard to know if this is even accountability without any real information. This could simply be a vendetta from the GN or entity against a physician that called them out.
Other than patient relations – where do we make complaints against doctors? Perhaps that is the reason there are only a few complaints?
This reflects a troubling pattern within GN and affiliates of responding to serious concerns with prolonged silence, effectively treating silence as resolution.
The Human Rights Tribunal has ignored countless complaints and failed to respond to correspondence indefinietly, as per previous Nunatsiaq articles.
Likewise, the Department of Health, and leadership at many levels, has failed to address multiple wrongful deaths, appearing to rely on Nunaummiut avoidance of legal action.
Those who speak up are met with retaliation, including being forced out of their roles or terminated without cause.
Nunavut employment is inexeprienced, limited to per community, not enough expertise. Court only works on criminal matters and travels to each community. Not to work on these sort of matters. No use for inuit.